User:Pfafrich/Democratic peace theory (Correlation is not causation)
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Critics of the Democratic peace theory have argued that even if democracy is correlated with less systematic violence, this does not establish causality. They have thus argued that the absence of wars and the few MIDs may be explained by other factors in democratic states not caused be democracy. Supporters of the DPT do not deny that other factors affect the risk of war but argue that many studies have controlled for such factors and that the DPT is still validated. Examples of factors controlled for are geographical contiguity, power status, alliance ties, militarization, economic wealth and economic growth, power ratio, and political stability. Studies have also controlled for reverse causality from peace or war to democracy{ref|RevCausa1}}. However, it has been suggested that democratic peace theory is based on nothing more than 'casual logics' ((ref|CasualLogics}}