Guarantee Of Peace

This Element tries to answer three questions about Kant's guarantee thesis by examining the 'first addendum' of his Philosophical Sketch; how the guarantor powers interrelate, how there can be a guarantee without undermining freedom, why there is a guarantee in the first place. Kant's conception of an interplay of human and divine rational agency encompassing nature is crucial: on moral grounds, we are warranted to believe the 'world author' knew that if he brought about the world, the 'supreme' good would come about too. Perpetual peace is the condition enabling the supreme good to be realized in history.

This Element tries to answer three questions about Kant's guarantee thesis by examining the 'first addendum' of his Philosophical Sketch; how the guarantor powers interrelate, how there can be a guarantee without undermining freedom, why there is a guarantee in the first place. Kant's conception of an interplay of human and divine rational agency encompassing nature is crucial: on moral grounds, we are warranted to believe the 'world author' knew that if he brought about the world, the 'supreme' good would come about too. Perpetual peace is the condition enabling the supreme good to be realized in history.

Peter Yearwood reconsiders the League of Nations, not as an attempt to realize an idea but as an element in the day-to-day conduct of Britain's foreign policy and domestic politics during the period 1914-25. He challenges the usual view that London reluctantly adopted the idea in response to pressure from Woodrow Wilson and from domestic public opinion, and that it was particularly wary of ideas of collective security. Instead he examines how London actively promoted the idea to manage Anglo-American relations in war and to provide the context for an enduring hegemonic partnership. The book breaks new ground in examining how London tried to use the League in the crises of the early 1920s: Armenia, Persia, Vilna, Upper Silesia, Albania, and Corfu. It shows how in the negotiations leading to the Draft Treaty of Mutual Assistance, the Geneva Protocol, and the Locarno accords, Robert Cecil, Ramsay MacDonald, and Austen Chamberlain tried to solve the Franco-German security question through the League. This involves a re-examination of how these leaders tried to use the League as an issue in British domestic politics and why it emerged as central to British foreign policy. Based on extensive, detailed archival research, this book provides a new and authoritative account of a largely misunderstood topic.

"A project of the International Peace Academy and CISAC, The Center for International Security and Cooperation"--P. ii.

The First World War followed a period of sustained peace in Europe during which people talked with confidence of prosperity, progress, and hope. But in 1914, Europe walked into a catastrophic conflict that killed millions, bled its economies dry, shook empires and societies to pieces, and fatally undermined Europe’s dominance of the world. It was a war that could have been avoided up to the last moment—so why did it happen? Beginning in the early nineteenth century and ending with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, award-winning historian Margaret Macmillan uncovers the huge political and technological changes, national decisions, and just as important, the small moments of human muddle and weakness that led Europe from peace to disaster. This masterful exploration of how Europe chose its path towards war will change and enrich how we see this defining moment in history.

In The Rise and Fall of Peace on Earth, Michael Mandelbaum examines the peaceful quarter century after the end of the Cold War. He describes how the period came about and why it ended, arguing that individual countries overturned peaceful, political, and military arrangements in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, thereby affecting the rest of the world. He also probes prospects for the revival of peace in the future and stresses the importance of democracy and civil liberties across borders.