Schumpeter's Oversimplification of Liberal Pacifism

In the reading for this week from Doyle, "Liberalism and World Politics," the author offers his summary of Peter Schumpeter's idea of liberal pacifism as such: "Only war profiteers and military aristocrats gain from war. No democracy would pursue a minority interest and tolerate that high cost of imperialism."

This is incredibly over-optimistic and, as we have seen from the invasion of Iraq, overestimates the effect of the voting population on international affairs. Perhaps in Europe's parliamentary systems, the general public has more of a voice in how government runs its affairs. If there are more choices for political parties than just two, it places greater emphasis on each party (and therefore each MP) to stay accountable and keep the people's rights and interests in mind moreso than in our Congress. Even still, in any government, the highest powers must be trusted with matters such as war, and in most cases the general public should be at least open to the idea of war before the operation is undertaken. However, this is not always the case, and even with the input of the majority that stand to lose from military operations, war is still sought out and resorted to with or without their consent.