International Relations IR2004

Essay 1

Alison Watson Wednesday 11.00pm 12.00pm 2078 words

In what ways have Enlightenment debates about perpetual peace shaped the way we think about and study international politics today?

Louise Hemfrey

In what ways have Enlightenment debates about perpetual peace shaped the way we think about and study international politics today? International politics today has had many factors and influences that contributed to its manifestation as a recognised pursuit of states. The Enlightenment; a development of arts, culture, and science, in the late seventeenth through to the nineteenth centuries, was crucial to the advancement of liberalism in political philosophy. The concept of perpetual peace was forged from the spirit of broad-mindedness and toleration1 which liberalist, enlightenment scholars were keen to transcend beyond the realms of mere theory. There was much writing on or around the subject; some of the most significant of these theorists included John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Immanuel Kant and Jeremy Bentham. However liberalism and international politics would not coincide, on a mainstream level, until the shock of world war had been experienced by a majority. The current understanding of international politics and its study has been irrevocably influenced by liberal thinking. In explaining the importance of the Enlightenment debates about perpetual peace in relation to how they have affected the current global order, I believe a balanced conclusion can be drawn on how substantial they are to the contemporary system. When Ronald Reagan addressed the British parliament in 1982 he mentioned in his speech that governments founded on a respect for individual liberty exercise restraint and peaceful intentions in their foreign policy.2 John Locke has been referred to as the founder of modern liberal individualism3; his essay Concerning Human Understanding was established as the underpinning of the political philosophy of the enlightenment. The primary focus of his work was the pressures that could be imposed on laws and institutions with regard to human rights and statesmanship. Locke, like Hobbes, believed man had a state of

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J.S. McClelland, A History of Western Political Thought, pp 297 Michael Doyle, The Ways of War and Peace, pp 205 3 Michael Doyle, The Ways of War and Peace, pp 206

nature, but in his opinion this state harmonized with mans morality4. Man had natural laws, which included natural rights and duties, and man was inclined to follow them in the interest of peace for himself. This theory adjusted to the level of a peaceful society through a contract of government5 in which The states rights and duties would simply be those the individuals ceded to it6. The duties of the state, bordered on an early version of human rights, crucially that the state should not violate the rights of its people. On the field of international politics this was expanded to the level of actors; on actor should not violate the rights of another. Recent studies, such as Bulls, criticize Lockes version of liberalism, illustrating that the Lockean description of international society itself admits: in it the private use of force is tolerated or even in certain circumstances required7. Lockes logic in this case, as Fischer explains, is that men who disregard the rights of others are no longer subjects of natural law and are undeserving of its protection therefore aggressive action can be taken in the interest of protecting anothers human rights8. Rose points out that many of Lockes principles, in theory, are repeated most consistently in the U.S. constitution and have been expanded by their foreign policy9. Locke was a leader in early liberalist thought, and his principles would be coined and advanced for two centuries to extract a more definitive standpoint for liberalism. Jeremy Bentham is one such scholar; he wanted to create a form of international law that would be recognised by all states and allow for liberalist theory to dominate the international system: Bentham is an advocate of the greatest happiness for the greatest number ... [and] he argues with similar emphasis on personal decision making and moral judgement.10 In his essay A Plan for an Universal and Perpetual Peace Bentham relates his philosophies giving three
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Michael Doyle, The Ways of War and Peace, pp 217 Bull, Alderson and Hurrell, Hedley Bull On International Relations, pp 92 6 Michael Doyle, The Ways of War and Peace, pp 217 7 Bull, Alderson and Hurrell, Hedley Bull On International Relations, pp 92 8 Markus Fischer, The Liberal Peace: Ethical, Historical and Philosophical Aspects, pp 14 9 Gideon Rose, Democracy Promotion and American Foreign Policy: Review Essay, pp 186-187 10 Michael Doyle, The Ways of War and Peace, pp 226

tenets that he believed were significant to the forming of all politics, including international politics: 1. Ignorance and bias of information, 2. Partiality and negligence in adjudication, 3. Weakness and fear in execution.11 In Benthams opinion, all one needed to do to stop war, and convince all peoples of the benefits of international peace, was combat these three defects in human thought. Education was the weapon of the enlightenment, but also its catalyst. Through improvements in literacy, the publication of more documents and the enlargement of curriculum in universities, the enlightenment believed that reason could in some sense control and direct passions towards ends which were ethically desirable12. However, as E.H. Carr highlights, when these principles were adopted by western political leaders a century later, after the mass destruction of WWI, the enlightenment itself was proven to have its own versions of ignorance and bias. Notions of giving the public a say in the operation of their government seemed far less appealing when the public now included everyone, not just the educated and enlightened minority13. Woodrow Wilson refashioned Benthams enlightenment doctrine of the nineteenth century in an attempt to create a permanent world peace in the twentieth. Unfortunately his assumption that every nation had an identical interest in peace14 was at best, for its time, idealistic, elevating the realist opinion that the enlightenment was a byword for shallow and pretentious over-intellectualism15 and inapplicable to the reality of global order. A contemporary of Benthams, acclaimed as the most influential writer of the Enlightenment in the literature, and the political theory, and in international political theory
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Jeremy Bentham, A Plan for Universal and Perpetual Peace Michael Doyle, The Ways of War and Peace, pp 296 13 E.H. Carr, The Twenty Years Crisis, pp 28 14 E.H. Carr, The Twenty Years Crisis, pp 50 15 J.S. McClelland, A History of Western Political Thought, pp 310

today16 also cut the foundation stone of his work from Lockean principles. Immanuel Kant had a guarantee for perpetual peace based on the natural law of man; that if humanity does not actively pursue international political peace then, by consequence, nature will cause us to destroy each other through violence. The earth would be left in a state of Perpetual Peace because of the absence of man17. "By 'peace' he means a thoroughly new condition and advancement in the processes of international politics"18 the advancement Kant speaks of is based upon his perception of the age of enlightenment as a time when the respect for our fellow mans rights and interests is being harnessed to elevate rational will over irrational action. Kant, like Locke, judged that the morality of man would also enable this new condition:

politics is the applied aspect of right, morality is the theoretical component of right19.

There could not be one part without the other in Kants peace, a peace which would only be attained through the implementing of his six Preliminary Articles before the three Definitive Articles. Particular emphasis is placed on republics in the articles, a reflection of the influences of Rousseau and the French revolution. Rousseaus critique of Saint-Pierres Project for Peace illustrates much of the early reasoning of the enlightenment, which by modern standards is distinctively idealist20, but was another inspiration for Kants association of politics and morality. "Basically the body politic, in so far as it is only a moral being, is merely a thing of reason.21 Republics, in Kants view embodied freedom, they were the most reasonable, politically sophisticated and morality based regimes. A coalition of
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Ed. Brown, Nardin & Rengger, International Relations in Political Thought, pp 387 Immanuel Kant, Perpetual Peace, pp 157 18 M. F. N. Franke, Global Limits: Immanuel Kant ..., pp 30 19 M. F. N. Franke, Global Limits: Immanuel Kant ..., pp 35 20 Tudor Jones, Modern Political Thinkers and Ideas: An historical Introduction, pp 82 21 Ed. Hoffmann & Fidler, Rousseau on International Relations, pp 42

republics, an international federation22, therefore, was the way to perpetual peace and with the enactment of all his articles this would come about naturally. Kant, however, does not deny the necessity for a military body, created by the federation, to cajole other states into becoming republics, and joining their union, in turn uniting the world in one global order. He also states that perpetual peace is a concept incapable of realization23 spurning realists like Kenneth Waltz to declare that Kant, despite his hopes, accepts people to be essentially selfinterested and warring throughout time24. The ambiguous nature of Kants writings has allowed them to transcend the centuries and be employed more distinctively than any other theorists in the modern era.

Fischer states that Given the significance of Kants work in deontological ethics, it thus can be said without undue exaggeration that the absolutist morality of the West culminates in the liberal norm of respect for the rights of individuals.25 Kantian theory has come around in two forms in the modern age: his defence of natural rights and freedoms has been joined with Lockes contract of government to create the present human rights movement; and his idea for a global federation of independent states has been used as a model for both the United Nations, and even more-so, for the European Union. Individualism is a product of the liberal perception of states being the tools of their citizens and that each citizen is valued equally and treated fairly, as a human being26. It is in turn, according to Locke, the duty of the commonwealth to act against any insurrection of a mans natural rights, he even suggests that there is individual accountability for acts of injustice against a fellow man27. The current trend in international politics is the study of justice, and human justice comes under this yoke. Awareness of human rights violations and apprehending the offenders has been a principle
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M. F. N. Franke, Global Limits: Immanuel Kant ..., pp 35 M. F. N. Franke, Global Limits: Immanuel Kant ..., pp 108 24 M. F. N. Franke, Global Limits: Immanuel Kant ..., pp 41 25 Markus Fischer, The Liberal Peace: Ethical, Historical and Philosophical Aspects, pp 17 26 Jackson & Sorensen, Introduction to International Relations, pp 99 27 Michael Doyle, The Ways of War and Peace, pp 221

feature of peacekeeping in the post WWII era. Liberal Institutionalism28 is the term John Baylis uses to describe the most recent interpretation of Kants view of a global federation. Kants theory of perpetual peace has been, according to Doyle, transformed in the late twentieth century into the democratic peace theory29. It is a presumption that democratic states do not go to war with one another, but do enter into conflicts with non-democratic states. As Kant defined it liberal states have created a separate peace. They also, as he feared they might, have discovered liberal reasons for aggression.30 Both schemas have been crucial to the creation of contemporary international bodies, of which, the EU is a prime example: a voluntary union (economically, and to some degree politically) of independent states in which the citizens have full rights and freedoms31. Though it is not the level of interdependence which Kant desired it is the most consistent and integrated peace to come out of the twentieth century.

Enlightenment debates about perpetual peace have undoubtedly made an impact on the application and study of prevailing international politics. The concept of liberalism as a practical application for global order would not have been revealed to us without the works of men like Bentham, Locke, Rousseau and Kant. The study of the international would not have any motive for the humanitarian initiative, or international law, if the enlightenment had not distinguished these factors as important to the overall peace of humanity. The outlines for peace created by the various enlightenment scholars have all become pieces of the jigsaw picture of international relations in the twenty-first century, rendering them a permanent place in the organization of the present system.

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Baylis, Smith & Owens, The Globalization of World Politics, pp 232 Baylis, Smith & Owens, The Globalization of World Politics, pp 233 30 Michael Doyle, The Ways of War and Peace, pp 206 31 Hague & Harrop, Comparative Government and Politics, pp 221