The Liberal Divide over Trade,Peace and War

Abstract

In IR it is almost common knowledge that a strong relation exists between liberalism and the idea that trade promotes peace. This paper shows that this is based on an incomplete view of the liberal tradition. The trade-leads-to-peace hypothesis does not originate in liberalism, while some of the most important liberal thinkers, notably Smith, Hume and Locke, never predicted trade to have a positive influence on peace. The two Scots actually saw a strong relation between trade and war. This has been widely overlooked in IR, largely due to one-sided interpretations of their writings from the early nineteenth century onwards. This article seeks to improve on the disciplinary historiography, calls on IR theorists to reappraise liberalism in relation to the trade-leads-to-peace thesis, and suggests that scholars working on trade and peace follow up on a number of important insights put forward by Hume and Smith.