"Promoting freedom will produce peace," is a view held by many democratic politicians and scholars. Kenneth Waltz identifies in his book Man, the State and War, three "images" or identifiable categories that might cause war. The first is the individual; for example World War II happened because Hitler was an evil man. The Second image concerns states, relying on internal politics of a nation and the societal characteristics as determinants of international decisions. The Third image depends on the international system of order. It infers that countries will always feel insecure and dependent on their individual power making force the only way to solve disputes due to the anarchical state. A main argument among scholars has been that liberal democracies seldom if ever fight wars against one another. "Democratic peace" theorists believe the second image, state politics and culture, is a key factor causing or deterring war. However, they vary in their reasoning as to what factors within the state actually determine its international policies. Theorists have suggested both democratic institutions and ideologies as the basis for why liberal institutions avoid war with one another. Due to the variance in reasoning, opposing examples, and the many exceptions "democratic peace" theorists must include in order to make their argument plausible, one must conclude that it is not shared democracy that deters wars. .
Democratic institutions have been cited as causes of democratic peace for many different reasons. One being that the way liberal governments operate is thought to be transparent so that others can see their intentions. An example would be the United States Congress is accountable to the people it represents as to how many nuclear weapons are produced each year, whereas Sadaam Hussein's regime in Iraq was not and kept secret from the rest of the world Iraq's weapon building, thus creating distrust.
