In light of the fact that major wars between democratic nations, which are typically trading partners involved in lucrative import/export arrangements, are relatively rare from a historical standpoint, "liberals argue that economic interdependence lowers the likelihood of war by increasing the value of trading over the alternative of aggression ... (as) independent states would rather trade than invade"4 (Copeland, 1996, pg. 5). Unrestrained liberalism has often been touted by proponents as the prudent path to world peace, even as the world inches closer to a state of open conflict, such as through the Wilsonian foreign policy instituted by President Woodrow Wilson prior to World War I, or the Bush doctrine's fallacious notion of instilling democratic ideals in Iraq by virtue of an outright invasion. In fact, many scholars insist that "the human rights movement was built on a Wilsonian platform, insisting that governments make

4 Copeland, Dale C. "Economic interdependence...
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