Editing World government (section)

==Modern philosophy==
===Francisco de Vitoria (1483–1546)===
The [[Spain|Spanish]] philosopher [[Francisco de Vitoria]] is considered an author of "global political philosophy" and international law, along with [[Alberico Gentili]] and [[Hugo Grotius]]. This came at a time when the [[University of Salamanca]] was engaged in unprecedented thought concerning [[human rights]], [[international law]], and early economics based on the experiences of the [[Spanish Empire]]. De Vitoria conceived of the {{Lang|la|res publica totius orbis}}, or the "republic of the whole world".

===Hugo Grotius (1583–1645)===
[[File:381px-Grotius de jure 1631.jpg|thumb|150px|Title page of the 1631 second edition of ''[[De jure belli ac pacis]]'']]

The Dutch philosopher and jurist Hugo Grotius, widely regarded as a founder of international law, believed in the eventual formation of a world government to enforce it.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KVoaBwAAQBAJ&dq=dante+founder+world+government&pg=PA90 | isbn=9781443823029 | title=World Governance: Do We Need It, is It Possible, What Could It (All) Mean? | date=9 June 2010 | publisher=Cambridge Scholars }}</ref> His book, ''[[De jure belli ac pacis]]'' (''On the Law of War and Peace''), published in Paris in 1625, is still cited as a foundational work in the field.<ref>[http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/libraries/rare/modernity/grotius.html USYD.edu.au] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220195422/http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/libraries/rare/modernity/grotius.html|date=2008-12-20}}</ref> Though he does not advocate for world government ''per se,'' Grotius argues that a "common law among nations", consisting of a framework of principles of natural law, bind all people and societies regardless of local custom.

===Immanuel Kant (1724–1804)===
[[File:Immanuel Kant portrait c1790.jpg|thumb|right|Writing in 1795, [[Immanuel Kant]] considered World Citizenship to be a necessary step in establishing world peace.]]
In his essay "[[Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch]]" (1795), [[Immanuel Kant|Kant]] describes three basic requirements for organizing human affairs to permanently abolish the threat of present and future war, and, thereby, help establish a new era of lasting peace throughout the world. Kant described his proposed peace program as containing two steps.

The "Preliminary Articles" described the steps that should be taken immediately, or with all deliberate speed:

# "No Secret Treaty of Peace Shall Be Held Valid in Which There Is Tacitly Reserved Matter for a Future War"
# "No Independent States, Large or Small, Shall Come under the Dominion of Another State by Inheritance, Exchange, Purchase, or Donation"
# "[[Standing army|Standing Armies]] Shall in Time Be Totally Abolished"
# "[[Government debt|National Debts]] Shall Not Be Contracted with a View to the External Friction of States"
# "No State Shall by Force Interfere with the [[Constitution]] or [[Government]] of Another State,
# "No State Shall, during War, Permit Such Acts of Hostility Which Would Make Mutual Confidence in the Subsequent Peace Impossible: Such Are the Employment of Assassins ({{Lang|la|percussores}}), Poisoners ({{Lang|la|venefici}}), Breach of Capitulation, and Incitement to Treason ({{Lang|la|perduellio}}) in the Opposing State"

Three Definitive Articles would provide not merely a cessation of hostilities, but a foundation on which to build a peace.

# "The Civil Constitution of Every State Should Be Republican"
# "The Law of Nations Shall be Founded on a Federation of Free States"
# "The Law of [[Global citizenship|World Citizenship]] Shall Be Limited to Conditions of Universal Hospitality"
Kant argued against a world government on the grounds that it would be prone to tyranny.{{sfn|Deudney|2007|pp=10,155–6}} He instead advocated for league of independent republican states akin to the intergovernmental organizations that would emerge over a century and a half later.{{sfn|Deudney|2007|pp=10,155–6}}

===Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814)===
The year of the [[Battle of Jena–Auerstedt|battle at Jena]] (1806), when [[Napoleon]] overwhelmed [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]], [[Johann Gottlieb Fichte]] in ''[[Characteristics of the Present Age]]'' described what he perceived to be a very deep and dominant historical trend:

{{blockquote|There is necessary tendency in every cultivated State to extend itself generally... Such is the case in Ancient History ... As the States become stronger in themselves and cast off that [Papal] foreign power, the tendency towards a Universal Monarchy over the whole Christian World necessarily comes to light... This tendency ... has shown itself successively in several States which could make pretensions to such a dominion, and since the fall of the Papacy, it has become the sole animating principle of our History... Whether clearly or not—it may be obscurely—yet has this tendency lain at the root of the undertakings of many States in Modern Times... Although no individual Epoch may have contemplated this purpose, yet is this the spirit which runs through all these individual Epochs, and invisibly urges them onward.<ref>Fichte, (1806). "Characteristics of the Present Age," ''Theory and Practice of the Balance of Power, 1486–1914: Selected European Writings'', (ed. Moorhead Wright, London: Rowman & Littlefield, 1975, pp. 87–89).</ref>}}