Cato Events Podcast

The promotion of democracy is a top foreign policy priority for both Republicans and Democrats. Many political scientists argue that promoting democracy is sound policy because democracies do not go to war with each other; thus, more democracies should equal less war. But what are the risks of democratization? In Electing to Fight: Why Emerging Democracies Go to War, Edward D. Mansfield and Jack Snyder argue that the process of democratization -- when incomplete or undertaken prematurely -- often leads to an increase in war and instability. Drawing on nearly 200 years of historical data, Mansfield and Snyder find that the transition to democracy is often characterized by a belligerent nationalism that substantially increases the risk of war. Their findings call into question the existing U.S. policy of pushing the democratic envelope in the Muslim world and China. Please join the authors and our distinguished commentators for a discussion of this timely and important book.

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The federal criminal justice system is in disarray. Each week some 1,200 people are sentenced in federal court, but the legality of these sentences is suddenly in doubt. That is because the Supreme Court recently held that the constitutional right to trial by jury requires that any factor that can be used to increase the amount of prison time that a defendant will serve must be proven to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. The ruling in Blakely v. Washington initially invalidated the sentencing system in the State of Washington, but it has called into question the power of federal judges to make certain factual findings and increase prison time on the basis of those findings. Chief Judge Young had already declared the federal guidelines unconstitutional and now the Justice Department is urging the Supreme Court to clarify its ruling and preserve the federal sentencing regime. Please join us for a discussion of whether the federal sentencing rules ought to be saved or scrapped.

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