Week 47 (2): Traditional Theories: Liberalism
Liberalism constitutes Realism’s ‘Other’. Whereas realist thought and theories depict
selfish human beings (and states) as living in an anarchical ‘state of nature’ and thus
prone to war and conflict, liberalism understands peace as being more common than war,
as human beings are essentially ‘good’. Instead of domination, international relations are
(or should be) characterised by cooperation. This conception of international relations
derives from an important text in liberal thought, that is Kant’s essay on the perpetual
peace from 1795. We will follow the basic ideas of Kant’s infamous essay from through its
influence on international law and human rights, and towards its upshot in IR liberal
theories.
Assigned reading
•Garner, Ferdinand and Lawson, Introduction to Politics, 343-346
•Kant, Immanuel (1795) Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch. Printed in Reiss
(ed.) (2003) Kant - Political Writings (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press):
93-108
Reading
Perpetual = long, lasting, without end
Christina - Notes
Kant, Immanuel (1795) Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch.
1. No peace treaties should contain elements to prevent a future war - to obtain
perpetual peace we need to end all future hostilities
PP Slide: Treaties with provisions for future wars should be avoided
2. No state should be made into a commodity; cannot be acquired by another state by
inheritance, exchange, purchase or gift
PP Slide: People has a right to be governed by their own state: You can't trade a state
3. Standing armies to be abolished since they cause wars of aggressions - showing
military strength will only make other countries do the same
•Being hired to kill/be killed contradicts with rights of men
PP Slide: Avoid arms race -> get rid of standing armies
4. Foreign debts must be prohibited since this can lead to war and the dependence on
involvement of other states in case of bankruptcy
PP Slide: no borrowing money -> no debts
5. No state should interfere in another state's internal matters
•Exception: if the state has an internal split into two parts, then an external state can
show its support to that part which condition was anarchy
6. There has to be some international regulations of war, so that enemies are able to
trust each other in times of peace. "Acts of hostilities" i.e. espionage must be
prohibited
Section 2:
•A suspension of hostilities does not guarantee peace
•Man in his mere state of nature can rob another man of the security giving be the
legal civil state
