''Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch'' (german: Zum ewigen Frieden. Ein philosophischer Entwurf) is a 1795 book authored by German philosopher Immanuel Kant. In the book, Kant advances ideas that have subsequently been associated with

democratic peace The democratic peace theory posits that democracies are hesitant to engage in armed conflict with other identified democracies. Among proponents of the democratic peace theory, several factors are held as motivating peace between democratic st ...

, commercial peace, and institutional peace.

Summary

Kant proposed a peace program to be implemented by governments. The "Preliminary Articles" described these steps that should be taken immediately, or with all deliberate speed: #"No secret treaty of peace shall be held valid in which there is tacitly reserved matter for a future war" #"No independent states, large or small, shall come under the dominion of another state by inheritance, exchange, purchase, or donation" #"

Standing armies A standing army is a permanent, often professional, army. It is composed of full-time soldiers who may be either career soldiers or conscripts. It differs from army reserves, who are enrolled for the long term, but activated only during wars or n ...

shall in time be totally abolished" #"

National debt A country's gross government debt (also called public debt, or sovereign debt) is the financial liabilities of the government sector. Changes in government debt over time reflect primarily borrowing due to past government deficits. A deficit o ...

s shall not be contracted with a view to the external friction of states" #"No state shall by force interfere with the constitution or government of another state" #"No state shall, during war, permit such acts of hostility which would make mutual confidence in the subsequent peace impossible: such are the employment of assassins (percussores), poisoners (venefici), breach of capitulation, and incitement to treason (perduellio) in the opposing state" Three Definitive Articles would provide not merely a cessation of hostilities, but a foundation on which to build a peace. Kant's essay in some ways resemble modern

democratic peace theory The democratic peace theory posits that democracies are hesitant to engage in armed conflict with other identified democracies. Among proponents of the democratic peace theory, several factors are held as motivating peace between democratic s ...

. He speaks of republican, ''Republikanisch'' (not democratic) states, which he defines to have representative governments, in which the legislature is separated from the executive. Kant claims that the republics will be at peace with each other, as they will tend towards pacifism more so than other forms of government. The essay does not treat republican governments as sufficient by themselves to produce peace: universal hospitality (ius cosmopoliticum) and a federation of free states are necessary to consciously enact his six-point program. Kant also specifies the rights universal hospitality affords strangers: to visit a foreign land under the presumption that they will be treated without hostility if presenting without malintent—as well as its limitations:"the nation may send he visitoraway again, if this can be done without causing his death" and that it is "not a right to be treated as a guest to which the stranger can lay claim" —these rights being necessary to accomplish the ultimate goal of intercommunication and peaceful relations between nations. Kant argued against a world government, arguing it would be prone to tyranny. The preferable solution to anarchy in the international system was to create a league of independent republican states.

Legacy and influence

The general idea that popular and responsible governments would be more inclined to promote peace and commerce became one current in the stream of European thought and political practice. It was one element of the British foreign policy of George Canning and

Lord Palmerston Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, (20 October 1784 – 18 October 1865) was a British statesman who was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century. Palmerston dominated British foreign policy during the period ...

. It was also represented in the American

liberal internationalism Liberal internationalism is a foreign policy doctrine that argues two main points: first, that international organizations should achieve multilateral agreements between states that uphold rules-based norms and promote liberal democracy, and, se ...

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...

’s Fourteen Points. Kant's recommendations were clearly represented in the 1940s in the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

. In the early days of the First World War, H.G. Wells stated that it would be "

the war to end war "The war to end war" (also "The war to end all wars"; originally from the 1914 book '' The War That Will End War'' by H. G. Wells) is a term for the First World War of 1914–1918. Originally an idealistic slogan, it is now mainly used sardon ...

", on the grounds that, once

Prussian Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

militarism and autocracy was replaced by popular government, European nations would not ever go to war with each other, because militarism and armaments resulted from the German threat. This idea was much repeated and simplified over the next four years; at present, the idea that democracy by itself should prevent or minimize war is represented by various democratic peace theories. In 1909,

Norman Angell Sir Ralph Norman Angell (26 December 1872 – 7 October 1967) was an English Nobel Peace Prize winner. He was a lecturer, journalist, author and Member of Parliament for the Labour Party. Angell was one of the principal founders of the Union ...

relied only upon the second leg, arguing that modern commerce made war necessarily unprofitable, even for the technically victorious country, and therefore the possibility of successful war was ''

The Great Illusion ''The Great Illusion'' is a book by Norman Angell, first published in the United Kingdom in 1909 under the title ''Europe's Optical Illusion'' and republished in 1910 and subsequently in various enlarged and revised editions under the title ''The ...

''.

James Mill James Mill (born James Milne; 6 April 1773 – 23 June 1836) was a Scottish historian, economist, political theorist, and philosopher. He is counted among the founders of the Ricardian school of economics. He also wrote ''The History of Briti ...

had described colonialism as

outdoor relief Outdoor relief, an obsolete term originating with the Elizabethan Poor Law (1601), was a program of social welfare and poor relief. Assistance was given in the form of money, food, clothing or goods to alleviate poverty without the requirement t ...

for the upper classes; Joseph Schumpeter argued that

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, private pr ...

made modern states inherently peaceful and opposed to conquest and imperialism, which economically favored the old

aristocratic Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'. At the time of the word's ...

elites. This theory has been well developed in recent years. Mansfield and Pollins, writing in the ''

Journal of Conflict Resolution The ''Journal of Conflict Resolution'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal covering research on international conflict and conflict resolution. It was established in 1957 and is published by Sage Publications. The editor-in-chief is Paul ...

'', summarize a large body of empirical work which, for the most part, supports the thesis. There are various exceptions and qualifications which seem to limit the circumstances under which economic interdependence results in conflict reduction. The third leg is the old idea that a confederation of peaceable princes could produce a perpetual peace. Kant had distinguished his league from a universal state; Clarence Streit proposed, in '' Union Now'' (1938), a union of the democratic states modelled after the

Constitution of the United States The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the nation ...

. He argued that trade and the peaceable ways of democracy would keep this Union perpetual, and counted on the combined power of the Union to deter the

Axis An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis *Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinate ...

from war.

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proposed that disarmament, arbitration, and the renunciation of colonies would produce perpetual peace, thus relying merely on Kant's preliminary articles and on none of the three main points; contrary to the modern theorists, he relied on public opinion, even against the absolute monarchy in Sweden.

Editions

* Immanuel Kant, ''To perpetual peace: a philosophical sketch'', Hackett Publishing, 2003. * Immanuel Kant, "5. Perpetual peace: a philosophical sketch" in ''Political Writings'', Cambridge University Press, 1991.

Notes

References

* Scott Gates, Torbjørn L. Knutsen and Jonathon W. Moses, Democracy and Peace: A More Skeptical View, ''Journal of Peace Research'', vol. 33, no. 1, 1996, pp. 1–10. * Marguerite La Caze, At the Intersection: Kant, Derrida, and the Relation between Ethics and Politics, ''Political Theory'', vol. 35, no. 6, 2007, pp. 781–805. * John R. Oneal and Bruce Russett, The Kantian Peace: The Pacific Benefits of Democracy, Interdependence, and International Organizations, 1885–1992, ''World Politics'', vol. 52, no. 1, 1999, pp. 1–37. * Bogumil Terminski, The evolution of the concept of perpetual peace in the history of political-legal thought, ''Perspectivas internacionales'', vol. 6, no. 1, 2010, pp. 277–291. * Burleigh T. Wilkins, Kant on International Relations, ''The Journal of Ethics'', vol. 11, no. 2, 2007, pp. 147–159.

External links