Rousseau's Theory of War and Peace: Peace as Justice

Abstract

The social philosophy of Rousseau enables us to develop a sociological theory of war and peace, However to extract this from Rousseau's writings, it is ne- cesary to re-read Rousseau and to get him out of the restricted framework in which his views have been traditionally analysed in the theory of Internatio- nal Relations, Although Rousseau can be considered as a representative of the Realist view, it is necessary to distinguish his Realism n-om the perspec- tive of other Realists such as Hobbes and Hegel. The inevitabilitiy of war in the international system does not prevent Rousseau from developing a theory of peace, This can be interpreted as the closeness of his views to the Grotian and the Kantian perspectives, However his concept of peace is not only diffe- rent from the Realist view, but also different from the Grotian and the Kanti- an ones. While presenting a critique of the society which leads to war, Rous- seau also provides us with a concept of peace as Justice before Marx.

Keywords

Rousseau, War, Peace, Political Theory, Justice.

Citation

Yalvaç, Faruk, "Rousseau's Theory of War and Peace: Peace as Justice", International Relations, Volume 4, Issue 14 (Summer 2007), pp. 121-160.

Affiliations

• Faruk Yalvaç, Assoc. Prof. Dr., Middle East Technical University, Department of International Relations