Abstract
One may choose a broad or a narrow concept of peace. Here, the narrow concept of peace as the absence of war is advocated. On the one hand, the risk of war results from the anarchical order of power or the resulting security dilemma. Its prominent solution is “peace by strength” or “security by superiority”. Unfortunately, this reinforces the dilemma instead of overcoming it. That is why great power politics tends to be a tragedy. On the other hand, territorial delimitation or border issues play a major role. Because of rising economic development, the loss of strength gradient has lost some of its importance. Waging war against distant adversaries has become ever easier. But capitalist economic development and globalization can also contribute to pacification. There is something like a capitalist peace which depends on free trade, the avoidance of state-owned enterprises, and the avoidance of protectionism. Moreover, capitalism promotes prosperity and democracy which pacifies relations between democracies.
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Notes
- 1.
John H. Herz, Idealist Internationalism and the Security Dilemma, World Politics 2(2), 1950, pp. 157–180.
- 2.
On prominent solutions of internal coordination problems, see Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press 1960. Groups of decision-makers are likely to agree on prominent solutions.
- 3.
John J. Mearsheimer, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics, New York: Norton 2001. Among realists, Mearsheimer belongs to the offensive school. There is also a defensive school.
- 4.
See Robert W. Gilpin, War and Change in World Politics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1981. A.F.K. Organski and Jacek Kugler, The War Ledger, Chicago: Chicago University Press 1980. For a review of the quantitative literature on this and related topics, see Erich Weede, The Capitalist Peace, pp. 269-280 in. Christopher J. Coyne and Rachel L. Mathers (eds.), The Handbook on the Political Economy of War. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar 2011.
- 5.
See Erich Weede, Weltpolitik und Kriegsursachen im 20. Jahrhundert, Munich: Oldenbourg. John A. Vazquez, The War Puzzle, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
- 6.
Raymond Aron, The Anarchical Order of Power, Daedalus 95, 1966, pp. 479–502.
- 7.
See Herman Kahn, On Thermonuclear War, Princeton: Princeton University Press 1960. Herman Kahn, On Escalation, New York: Praeger, 1965.
- 8.
See John J. Mearsheimer, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics, loc. cit.
- 9.
Immanuel Kant, Perpetual Peace. A Philosophical Sketch, In Hans Reiss (ed.), Kant’s Political Writings, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970 (Original in German in 1795).
- 10.
See Bruce M. Russett and John R. Oneal, Triangulating Peace. Democracy, Interdependence and International Organizations, New York: Norton, 2001. For a summary of this and related research, see Erich Weede, The Capitalist Peace, pp. 269–280 in Christopher J. Coyne and Rachel L. Mathers (eds.), The Handbook on the Political Economy of War, loc. cit.
- 11.
Falsification of probabilistic propositions requires a comparison of relative frequencies.
- 12.
John Maynard Keynes, The Economic Consequences of the Peace, New York: Penguin 1988 (first published in 1919).
- 13.
Eric L. Jones, The European Miracle, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1981. Erich Weede, Liberty in Comparative Perspective: China, India, and the West, In Fred Macmahon (ed.), Towards a Worldwide Index of Human Freedom (pp. 189–241), Vancouver, Canada: Fraser Institute, and Potsdam: Liberales Institut 2012.
Literature
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Keynes, John Maynard, The Economic Consequences of the Peace, New York: Penguin, 1988 (first published in 1919).
Mearsheimer, John J., The Tragedy of Great Power Politics, New York: Norton, 2001.
Organski, A.F.K./ Kugler, Jacek, The War Ledger, Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1980.
Russett, Bruce M./ Oneal, John R., Triangulating Peace. Democracy, Interdependence and International Organizations, New York: Norton, 2001.
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Weede, Erich, The Capitalist Peace, In Coyne, Christopher J./ Mathers, Rachel L. (eds.), The Handbook on the Political Economy of War, Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar, 2011, pp. 269–280.
Weede, Erich, Liberty in Comparative Perspective: China, India, and the West, in: Macmahon, Fred (ed.), Towards a Worldwide Index of Human Freedom, Vancouver, Canada: Fraser Institute, und Potsdam: Liberales Institut, 2012, pp. 189–241.
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Weede, E. (2019). Peace. In: Kühnhardt, L., Mayer, T. (eds) The Bonn Handbook of Globality. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90382-8_34
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