Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), was a German philosopher and thinker who wrote “Perpetual Peace”, where he proposed to establish a peace federation based on the rational individual and Republican political order. The Kantian peace federation is based on three main aspects.
1. FREEDOM OF ALL HUMANS
In Immanuel Kant’s view a war is in many respects a product of feudal relations and tyranny- lords fighting to seek new lands and wealth, and common men having no interest in military conflict. Kant, unlike other “pessimists”, believed in the good nature of humans.
2 2. HUMAN RATIONALITY
According to Kant the peaceful relationship between people and their community will prevail in a free society. Personal safety and property are more valuable assets than prestige.
CONSTITUTION BASED REPUBLICAN STATE
As all individuals are rational, they know that they will bear the cost of a war. In a republican state they can prevent their leaders from going to war. Spreading the new political institutions, free trade and the idea of republicanism worldwide would lead to perpetual peace.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), on the other hand, was more specifically interested in the common good, and firmly believed that all individuals are inherently good, but have been corrupted by civilization and society. “Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains.”
Rousseau was opposed to the idea of a representative
democracy; he felt that citizens themselves should make the laws. His ideal
state was one where the will of the public was the absolute authority.
In the book “American Dialogue: The Founders and Us”,
author Joseph J. Ellis points us towards an intriguing story which is featured
in the book “Discourses on Davila”, by John Adams. “There once was a young man
who fell on hard times and became a pauper. He and his faithful dog were seen
begging for food which he always shared with his dog. As he approached
starvation, his friends urged him to stop sharing with his dog in order to
avoid death. But the pauper refused to do so, asking rhetorically, “Who will
love me then?””
The American Revolution gave an example of “working
Republicanism”- the founding fathers of the United States of America were able
to construct domestic institutions which still exist today.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men
are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain
unalienable rights: that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness; that to secure these rights governments are instituted by men,
deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed….” THE UNITED STATES DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, 1776
Declaration of Independence, oil on canvas by John Trumbull, 1818; in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, Washington, D.C.Architect of the Capitol
On the other hand, the bloody and contradictory consequences of the French revolution stimulated the rise of conservatism and counter-revolution reaction in Europe.
Henry Kissinger, in his book “World Order: Reflections
on the Character of Nations and the Course of History”, explains concretely the
ideology behind the revolution that would bring the change and charter the path
of Europe. Terming Jean-Jacques Rousseau as the ‘intellectual godfather’ of the
revolution, Kissinger highlights the casus
belli; “all monarchies were by definition treated as enemies; because they
would not give up power without resisting, the Revolution, to prevail, had to
turn itself into a crusading international movement to achieve world peace by
imposing its principles.”
The origins of World War I can be described as the
perfect embodiment of a classical Thucydides trap1; German economy,
after the unification, grew thrice and became the second largest economy in the
world; the industrial potential surpassed that of the British. The growth of
the German military and naval power threatened the old powers.
The Great War resulted in the collapse of three
European empires; Russia, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire. 8 million
military personnel lost their lives, and 7 million more were permanently
disabled. Germany lost more than 15% of her active population; France lost
about 10.5%.
And thus, began the post- World War I utopianism- an
assumption that a state should base its foreign policy on internal political
models. Woodrow Wilson, the 28th President of the United States of
America, led the charge for liberal idealism, presenting his famous 14 Points
speech for establishment of a post WWI peace settlement which included the
creation of an international organization- The League of Nations. His 14 Points
speech included the establishment of the League of Nations, assurances
regarding collective security, disarmament as a tool to weaken tensions,
self-determination of nations and so on.
Liberals shared the belief in progress and assumed
that democratic institutions, parliamentary procedures and rule of law may be
effectively implemented on international level, to regulate relations between
states.
However, according to realists, this idea that moral
principles are superior to practical and pragmatical consideration is wrong and
naïve, and would fail to serve as a guide for policy-makers. As Kenneth Waltz,
in his article “Structural Realism after the Cold War”, surmises, “Realism
reveals what liberal institutionist theory obscures:- that international
institutions serve primarily national rather than international interests.”
The Treaty of Versailles, considered an initial
success, collapsed. Woodrow Wilson was defeated at home, and the United States
of America did not become a part of the League of Nations. A misbalance of
power as well as the lack of involvement from the USSR and the US led to the
League of Nations being paralyzed.
This would become the catalyst for the greatest war
ever.
References:
1. The
Thucydides Trap, also referred to as Thucydides's Trap, is a term coined by
American political scientist Graham T. Allison to describe an apparent tendency
towards war when an emerging power threatens to displace an existing great
power as the international hegemon.
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