Abstract: This book advances the theory that “democratic peace” does not exclusively refer to an absence of war among democracies but should also be thought of as a particular way of “doing, thinking, and feeling” peace. Democratic peace is not only then a statistical finding or a rhetorical commonplace invoked to justify foreign policy decisions. Rather, the notion also refers to a historically and culturally situated practice. Taking this reconceptualization as the theoretical point of departure, the author develops a historical reconstruction of democratic peace laying bare its historical background and assessing its political significance. Tentatively situating it within the cultural history of modernity, he reconstructs how the idea of a democratic peace informed diplomatic action at the onset of the Cold War and during the Arab Spring.