This study seeks to analyse the relationship between the international system and democratic governance. While much has been written in recent times about the impact that democratic states have on the international system, the question of whether the international system promotes, hinders or is in contingent relation to the institutionalisation of democracy has not been theorised to the same extent, especially within the discipline of International Relations. The central hypothesis is that forms of state, democratic and non-democratic, are not simply a consequence of domestic processes and forces - cultural/ideological, economic, political- but also of international ones. This is not to deny the importance of domestic contexts but to place these within the larger context of the international system and to analyse their dynamic interrelations. The structure of the thesis takes the form of evaluation, critique and comparison of texts that to some extent have dealt with questions concerning international causes of socio-economic, political and cultural change in a wider social context than is usually found in mainstream IR literature. These are as follows: 1. Barrington Moore Jr., Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy 2. Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation 3. Joseph Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy 4. Samuel Huntington, Political Order in Changing Societies 5. David Held, Democracy and the Global Order Beyond the arguments of the specific authors, a critique of liberal internationalism is attempted - a potentially significant interpretation of the international system, of democracy and of their interrelations. Finally, the concluding chapter seeks to elaborate a coherent framework for analysing the complex relations and salient variables established in the five main chapters and to provide a basis upon which to conclude whether indeed the international system may be said to promote or hinder the institutionalisation of democracy within states.