This collection of essays provides a thorough analysis of Perpetual Peace, updated to the latest standards of Kantian scholarship. As such, it serves as a reading companion to a classical text in the history of political thought. The book, however, is not just intended for scholars of Kant but also for political scientists and experts in international relations who desire to sharpen their view on the origins of the theory of democratic peace. The strong conviction underpinning this collection is that Kant hit on something crucial for the destiny of mankind, the connection between democracy and peace, but that two major factors inhibit a full appreciation of his intuitions. On the one hand, a cursory and non-systematic reading of Kant’s political thought, typical and, to a certain extent, understandable among political scientists, generated distortions that still have negative consequences for the contemporary debate. On the other hand, Kant’s theory evidently needs adjustments and modifications capable of making it applicable to the complexities of democracy today. The book addresses both factors, by clarifying some aspects of Kant’s original thesis and by making a first step toward a more refined and sophisticated definition of the theory of democratic peace.

Luigi Caranti (Ph.D. Boston University) teaches Political Philosophy at the Philipps-Universität Marburg and Political Theory of Human Rights at Luiss – Guido Carli. Recent publications include: Kant and the Scandal of Philosophy. Toronto: UTP (forthcoming spring 2007), Kant e lo scetticismo. Lungo: Marco Editore, 2004; (with H. Allison) Libertà trascendentale e autorità della morale in Kant. Roma: Luiss Edizioni, 2002; “Logical Purposiveness and the Principle of Taste,” in: Kant Studien, 96 (3), 2005, pp. 364-375; “The Problem of Idealism in Kant’s Pre-critical Period,” in: Kant-Studien, 4/2003.