Trading Our Way out of War: Perpetual Peace without Politics

Proponents of perpetual peace have often identified politics as a problem standing in the way of peaceful relations between humans. They believed that, while politics exacerbates the differences separating nations, commerce brings human beings together. In this article, I trace the development of ar...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:URI:https://journals.openedition.org/rccs,
Autor principal: Vieira, Patrícia
Formato: Article ou chapitre numérique
Lenguaje:Anglais
Publicado: Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais 2018
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Acceso en línea:Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
Descripción
Sumario:Proponents of perpetual peace have often identified politics as a problem standing in the way of peaceful relations between humans. They believed that, while politics exacerbates the differences separating nations, commerce brings human beings together. In this article, I trace the development of arguments against politics and for commerce from the late fifteenth to the early nineteenth century. I argue that thinkers espoused an idealized view of commerce as an activity that fostered the development of a peaceful international community, while gradually eliminating economic inequalities. I also highlight how these arguments still resonate with today’s debates on globalization.