In Immanuel Kant’s “Perpetual
Peace”, the philosopher sets forth six prescriptions intended to foster a
lasting peace between nations by eliminating possible motivations to go to war,
and harboring an environment of mutual trust. Kant’s first prescription states, “No
conclusion of peace shall be considered valid as such if it was made with a
secret reservation of the material for a future war” Kant intended this
instruction to make a distinction between a truce and true peace. A successful
example of such can be seen in the 1783 Treaty of Paris between Britain and the
United States, which effectively ended the American Revolutionary War. This treaty was a true step towards honest
peace. It removed the hostilities that motivated the war by declaring America
as a free sovereign nation. This treaty encouraged mutual trust by releasing
prisoners of war from both sides, and established economic cooperation by
allowing both parties access to the Missisippi river, with the intention of a future
trading partnership. This treaty has proven Kant’s theory correct, as the two
nations have created a true, lasting peace between them and become close allies
and trading partners.
Unfortunately,
where peace treaties are made with “secret reservations”, as in the case of the
Korean Armistice Agreement, they maintain hostilities and bring no real peace
at all. The Korean Armistice Agreement was
the result of the Korean War and intended to "insure a complete cessation of hostilities and of all acts of armed
force in Korea until a final peaceful settlement is achieved"[1]. Unfortunately, no such peace was ever
secured. The treaty succeeded in ending acts of armed force but could not remove
the hostility between the two nations. Still in place today, the agreement
functions as the sole buffer (physically and figuratively) between the North
and South Korea. Minor fighting between the two parties still occurs and as a
result, third party actors must patrol the Korean Demilitarized Zone that
separates the two nations. Many reports focus on North Korea as the main
instigator of continued hostility as the nation’s leaders still claim they won
the Korean War, and have been reported to have banned all mention of South
Korea within the state. Continuing to maintain hostility, North Korea has been
reported to actively educate their children to hate South Korea for its
democratic organization, and to view America as the ultimate evil because it is
viewed by North Korea to be the epicenter of democracy.
Kant’s sixth prescription
states, “No state at war with another shall permit such acts of hostility as
would make mutual confidence impossible during a future time of peace”. This
‘rule’ for perpetual peace basically says that no party can use tactics so
nasty in war-time, that they would prevent trust in peace time. A clear example
of this is the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in
New York City. The terrorist attacks were made by Al-Qaeda, a radical Islamist
group, for grievances that included U.S. support of Israel, as well as U.S.
support of the UN Security Council sanctions against Iraq. This attack has eliminated all possibility of
reconciliation between American and Al-Qaeda forces, even after all fighting
matters have been resolved. It would be impossible for the United States
government to ever trust a terrorist group. In fact, it has proven difficult
for the American population as a whole to trust any Islamist group or
individual, even those Islamist citizens born and raised in America. Kant was wise to suggest certain restraints
during wartime, as this foresight would allow for the possibility of a
maintained peace when fighting ceases.
One example of two parties
who achieved such decorum of behavior during fighting, and thus achieved stable
peace as a result, is that of the North and South of the United States during
periods of civil war. Troops were taught infantry tactics and commanders
presented their soldiers in large, open, masses of men. Favoring Napoleonic
tactics, both sides of fighting marched their men unto open fields in tight
formations and utilized formations such as double-rank battle lines, assault
waves, and brigade columns. Due to the up-front and honest means of fighting,
and lack of sneaky tactics (poison, assassination, forced treason ect.), both
North and South ended the war with limited hostilities towards each other and
quickly began a relatively short period of southern reconciliation. Today, the
two parties are one nation and a lasting peace is enjoyed.
[1] "Text of the Korean War Armistice
Agreement". FindLaw. 27 July 1953. Retrieved 26
November 2011.
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