Power and the Pursuit of Peace: Theory and Practice in the History of Relations Between States

by F. H. Hinsley

• ISBN13: 9780521094481
• ISBN10: 0521094488
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1967-10-01
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

In the last years of the nineteenth century peace proposals were first stimulated by fear of the danger of war rather than in consequence of its outbreak. In this study of the nature and history of international relations Mr Hinsley presents his conclusions about the causes of war and the development of men's efforts to avoid it. In the first part he examines international theories from the end of the middle ages to the establishment of the League of Nations in their historical setting. This enables him to show how far modern peace proposals are merely copies or elaborations of earlier schemes. He believes there has been a marked reluctance to test these theories not only against the formidable criticisms of men like Rousseau, Kant and Bentham, but also against what we have learned about the nature of international relations and the history of the practice of states. This leads him to the second part of his study - an analysis of the origins of the modern states' system and of its evolution between the eighteenth century and the First World War.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part I. A History of Internationalist Theories: 1. To the end of the seventeenth century

2. Penn, Bellers and Saint-Pierre

3. Rousseau

4. Kant

5. Bentham and James Mill

6. The first half of the nineteenth century

7. From the Crimean War to the League of Nations

Part II. A History of the Modern States' System: 8. The beginnings of the system

9. The first fifty years

10. The concert of Europe

11. International Relations in the second half of the nineteenth century

Part III. International Relations and International organizations in the twentieth century: 12. International Relations in the first half of the twentieth century

13. The First World War

14. The failure of the League of Nations

15. The causes of the Second World War

16. The nature and development of the United Nations

17. International Relations since the Second World War

References

Index.