Political scientists have developed an extensive research agenda related to the democratic peace hypothesis. Are democracies more peaceful than nondemocracies? More specifically, do democracies fight each other less than nondemocracies do? Do democracies fight nondemocracies more than they fight each other? Gathering data on different kinds of warfare over several Centuries, researchers have addressed these sets of questions. One study has confirmed the hypothesis that democracies do not go to war against one another: since 1789 no Wars have been fought strictly between independent states with democratically elective governments. Another study has found that wars involving democracies have tended to be less bloody but more protracted, although between 1816 and 1965, democratic governments were not noticeably more peace-prone or passive.“ But the evidence is not that clearcut and explanations are partial. Why are states in the middle of transitions to democracy more prone to conflict? How can we explain that when democratic states have not gone to war, it may have had little to do with their democratic character?