"PERPETUAL PEACE" : KANT

Perpetual peace is arguably seen as the starting point of contemporary liberal thought. Perpetual Peace is structured in two parts. The "Preliminary Articles" described the steps that should be taken immediately, or with all deliberate speed:

1. "No secret treaty of peace shall be held valid in which there is tacitly reserved matter for a future war"
2. "No independent states, large or small, shall come under the dominion of another state by inheritance, exchange, purchase, or donation"
3. "Standing armies shall in time be totally abolished"
4. "National debts shall not be contracted with a view to the external friction of states"
5. "No state shall by force interfere with the constitution or government of another state"
6. "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.

1. "The civil constitution of every state should be republican"
2. "The law of nations shall be founded on a federation of free states"
3. "The law of world citizenship shall be limited to conditions of universal hospitality".

What is the standing of a suvereign nation,

and what are its rights relative to other

sovereign nations?

What is our obligation to pursue peace?

Can intervention in the affairs of another

sovereign nation be justified?

Who, if anyone, has the right to intervene?