Against Perpetual Peace
In: The Radical Enlightenment in GermanySearch for other papers by William Rasch in
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Abstract
This essay problematizes the strong normative underpinnings of Jonathan Israel’s Radical-Enlightenment-project by focusing on his treatment of war. When examining the history of European warfare, basic distinctions – war/peace, absolutism/democracy, standing armies/peoples’ militias, Enlightenment/anti-Enlightenment – can be surprisingly deceptive. One often finds desired outcomes in undesired places. In contrast, Jonathan Israel’s desire to see eighteenth-century warfare in terms of its Enlightenment critics produces distortions of the historical record, as does ignoring the long-term legacy of democratic, French Revolutionary warfare. This study aims to remind us of some of the well-known counterintuitive developments in European military history and international law, not least the positive effects of viewing war as a legitimate and legal part of international affairs rather than a crime. Paradoxically, to be ‘against perpetual peace’ does more for the limitation of war’s damage than does its opposite.