Perpetual Peace - Immanuel Kant
Often overlooked among Immanuel Kant's vast body of writing, Perpetual Peace provides the fundamental intellectual basis for Liberalism.
In Perpetual Peace, Kant sketches a vision of lasting peace in international politics in two sections. The first deals with prerequisites to peace, all negative prescriptions, and the second deals with specific state characteristics that create peace, positive prescriptions. (Immanuel Kant, Perpetual Peace (1795). https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/kant/kant1.htm (accessed 2/25/14).
In Perpetual Peace, Kant sketches a vision of lasting peace in international politics in two sections. The first deals with prerequisites to peace, all negative prescriptions, and the second deals with specific state characteristics that create peace, positive prescriptions. (Immanuel Kant, Perpetual Peace (1795). https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/kant/kant1.htm (accessed 2/25/14).
Section 1 - "Preliminary Articles"
These are the rules that when ignored keep states from considering peace I - Temporary Peace Treaties are Illegitimate II - States Cannot be Annexed, Given, or Bought III - Standing Armies Provoke War IV - National Debts Cannot Be Used For Manipulation V - States Cannot Meddle With Each Other's Constitutions VI - War Must Have Limits |
Section 2 - "Definitive Articles"
This section is the more important of the two. Its three conditions make up what is now known as the "Kantian Triad" for Liberal Democratic peace. Each condition provides the basis for the next I - Republican States - Every state should be organized internally as a democratic republic. States organized in such a way are more inclined towards peace. II - League of Peace - Once every state is Republican and therefore harmonious, a league that respects state autonomy while pushing towards the goal of perpetual peace. III - Cosmopolitan Hospitality - Peace should be reinforced by a universal law of hospitality, which provides impermanent residence to any citizen of the world in a congenial and friendly manner. |