Perpetual PeaceImmanuel Kant

Kant published Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch (Zum ewigen Frieden) in 1795. He frames the essay as a treaty. Six preliminary articles forbid secret reservations in peace treaties, the acquisition of states as property, standing armies, national debts for foreign aggression, forcible interference in other states' constitutions, and wartime acts that destroy future trust. Three definitive articles require a republican civil constitution in every state, a federation of free states under the law of nations, and a cosmopolitan right limited to universal hospitality.

Supplements and appendices connect the political design to nature's guarantee and to the relation of morals and politics. The essay belongs with Kant's other political writings and with the Idea for a Universal History. It became a source text for later theories of international law, federal peace, and democratic peace among republics.