Abstract:
Narrative construction plays an important role in the
creation of national security policies. The rogue state
narrative has been an important part of the conceptualisation
and presentation of the security policies of the West. This
became more pronounced after the terrorist attacks on the
United States on September 11, 2001, which presented
certain ‘rogue’ actors as a threat to the security of the
international community. A relevant case study in this regard
is the possession of nuclear weapons which has been deemed
a risk in the hands of such proscribed ‘rogue states.’ This
paper will analyse this assertion through the prism of Kant’s
seminal work on Democratic Peace Theory which asserts
that democracies seldom go to war due to their inherent
peaceful tendencies of democracies. Furthermore, the study
will look at criticisms of the theory from different theoretical
paradigms of international relations.
