An Inquiry into the Nature of Peace and the Terms of Its Perpetuation

Thorstein Bunde VeblenProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 4.0
Word count
670K words
Chapters
67

Tags

English Originals Politics Institutional AnalysisPolitical EconomyPower GameSocial CritiqueWestern ThoughtMoral DilemmaPeace StudiesAcademic MonographIntellectual CommentaryWorld Order

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.An Inquiry into the Nature of Peace and the Terms of Its Perpetuation by VeblenAuthor: Veblen, Thorstein, 1857-1929,Language: English, Class: JX: Political science: International law, Release Date: Feb 27, 2007

Editor's review

Veblen's An Inquiry into the Nature of Peace and the Terms of Its Perpetuation is not a pacifist manifesto but a political analysis informed by the cool eye of institutional economics. The author treats peace as a social state that requires specific institutional conditions to be maintained, not the natural result of a treaty, and this approach sheds useful light on the structures of interest behind the international order. Written in English, the book is dense in argument and academic in syntax, requiring some background in political science and international law. As a public-domain ebook, it is best used as a primary text in intellectual history: it can be approached through its international-law classification or read alongside Veblen's other institutional analyses. It suits course reading lists in the history of political thought and international relations theory, and readers willing to work slowly through a classic with pen in hand in a quiet setting; it is not suitable for quick reading as an introduction.

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Reading tips

  1. Read the table of contents and conclusion first to grasp the author's overall framework for the conditions that sustain peace, then go back and read the chapters closely.
  2. Keep a pen for marginal notes and compare the author's analysis of institutions and interests with contemporary international events.
  3. Read alongside Veblen's The Theory of the Leisure Class to understand his consistent institutional-analytic perspective.
  4. Read the English original slowly; when you meet a long sentence, first break it down to its main clause, and do not try to finish it in one sitting.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64
  65. 65
  66. 66
  67. 67

FAQ

Is this book in Chinese or English? This is an original English-language ebook released by Project Gutenberg; the language is English and the book contains no Chinese translation. Chinese readers need some English reading ability, or a dictionary or translation to consult alongside it.
Can I understand it without a background in political science? You can read it, but it will be fairly demanding. The author's argument is dense and his terminology academic; without a background in political science and international law it is easy to lose the main line of argument. It is advisable first to understand Veblen's institutional approach before entering the book.
Is this book suitable as an introduction to peace studies? Not really. It is not a systematic textbook but a theoretical work with a strong personal analytical framework, better suited to readers who already have some foundation and want to understand a strand of intellectual history; beginners should start with general histories.

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About the author

Thorstein Bunde Veblen Author · American · 1857–1929

Thorstein Bunde Veblen (1857–1929) was an American economist and sociologist, and one of the founders of institutional economics. In 1899 he published The Theory of the Leisure Class, introducing the concepts of "conspicuous consumption" and "conspicuous leisure" and offering a biting critique of capitalism; his other works include The Theory of Business Enterprise and The Place of Science in Modern Civilisation. He examined the place of science in modern civilisation and the nature of peace and the terms of its perpetuation. His writings span economics, sociology and cultural criticism, and his sharp, ironic style exerted a lasting influence on later institutionalist research and the tradition of social critique.