Security communities and their values: Taking masses seriously

This article analyzes political and social values held by people in security communities (regions in which large-scale use of violence is very unlikely). Inhabitants of four security communities (in Europe, North America, South America, and South-East Asia) are generally more tolerant to out-groups than the rest of the world's population. In addition, comprehensive security communities (that is zones where not only interstate war, but also civil war, has become unthinkable) are characterized by higher interpersonal trust. The hypothesized effect of democracy, economic liberalism, and social participation was not confirmed. Going back to Deutsch's conceptualization of the security community, the article challenges assumptions frequent in the constructivist literature.