Toward Perpetual Peace
A project arranged into preliminary and definitive articles seeks legal institutions capable of replacing merely temporary suspension of hostilities.
Understanding the text
Written amid Europe’s revolutionary wars, it ironically adopts the form of a diplomatic agreement.
Key points
- 01
Republic
Citizens’ consent should influence decisions requiring them to bear the costs of war.
- 02
Federation
A union of free states aims at peace without simply becoming a world monarchy.
- 03
Hospitality
Cosmopolitan right limits hostility to strangers without establishing an unlimited right of settlement.
How to read it
Distinguish preliminaries, definitive articles and supplements. Examine publicity and the criticism of colonial conquest alongside the institutional conditions being proposed.
Editions & sources
Summaries and key points are original editorial interpretations. They accompany reading the work and do not replace an edition of the text. Editorial method ↗