The work of Immanuel Kant has been foundational in modern democratic peace theory. His essay Toward Perpetual Peace gives three prescriptions for attaining peace between democracies: republican institutions, a pacific union between states, and an ethos of universal hospitality. Contemporary democratic peace theory, however, has warped the Kantian framework from which it draws inspiration: the third prescription has been gradually substituted for commerce and trade. I argue that this change in emphasis produces tensions between Perpetual Peace and the body of democratic peace theory literature it spawned. Moreover, I contend that a look back at Kant’s essay sheds light on why this transformation occurred. Finally, I use this new look back at Perpetual Peace to reformulate the relationship between peace, democracy, and commerce so as to offer a new perspective on the democratic peace theory/capitalist peace theory debate.
context to the encounter with Anders's thought and especially usefully hints at why it remains so relatively unknown. To this extent Müller acts as a first-rate editor. But the role changes rather in his second order of contributions. Here, Anders is connected in an extremely useful way to contemporary debates about transhumanism, Kracauer's discussion of the Weimar salaried masses, and the significance of smart phones and the like, to develop an argument about how there is presently a condition of 'joyful surrender to painful obsolescence'. Müller has made it possible to think with Anders and, furthermore, provides an excellent introduction to some of the avenues such thinking might follow. This is a very important book, and hopefully it will lead to a higher profile for Anders's provocative and essential thought. We owe Christopher Müller a debt of intellectual gratitude.
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