Liberal View of Peace

The liberal view of peace, also sometimes known as the commercial or trade view, suggests that liberal republics—and in some accounts, liberal democracies—do not go to war with each other. This view owes its popularity to the writings of Immanuel Kant on a “perpetual peace.” This view is also widely shared by diverse traditions in political thought and empirical social science. The liberal view of peace attempts to explain the integration of international society following World War II and the lack of a great power war in that period.

This view is a common one in political thought since at least the 18th century and continues to be, albeit in different forms, an important normative suggestion, as well as a strong empirical claim about the importance ...