Perpetual peace
Perpetual peace refers to a state of affairs where peace is permanently established over a certain area.
The idea of perpetual peace first came up during the 18th century, when Charles-Irénée Castel de Saint-Pierre published his essay "Project for Perpetual Peace" anonymously while working as the negotiator for the Treaty of Utrecht. However, the idea did not become well known until the late 18th century. The term perpetual peace became acknowledged when German philosopher Immanuel Kant published his 1795 essay "Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch".
Perpetual peace has had significant influence upon modern politics. Perpetual peace has been the foundation for peace and conflict studies, a relatively newly laid field which started in Europe around the 1950s and 1960s.
The Kantian view and its descendants
The other modern plans for a perpetual peace descend from Kant's 1795 essay, "Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch" (Zum ewigen Frieden. Ein philosophischer Entwurf.). In this essay, Kant described his proposed peace program. Perpetual peace is arguably seen as the starting point of contemporary liberal thought.