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

by Thorstein Veblen

[CHAPTER II]

On The Nature and Uses Of Patriotism
The nature of Patriotism, [31].
—Is a spirit of Emulation, [33].

—Must seem moral, if only to a biased populace,[ 33].
—The common man is sufficiently patriotic but is hampered
with a sense of right and honest dealing, [38].
—Patriotism is at cross purposes with modern life, [38].
—Is an hereditary trait? [41].
—Variety of racial stocks in Europe, [43].
—Patriotism a ubiquitous trait, [43].
—Patriotism disserviceable, yet men hold to it, [46].
—Cultural evolution of Europeans, [48].
—Growth of a sense of group solidarity, [49].
—Material interests of group falling into abeyance
as class divisions have grown up, until prestige
remains virtually the sole community interest, [51].
—Based upon warlike prowess, physical magnitude and
pecuniary traffic of country, [54].
—Interests of the master class are at cross purposes
with the fortunes of the common man, [57].
—Value of superiors is a "prestige value," [57].
—The material benefits which this ruling class contribute
are: defense against aggression, and promotion of the
community's material gain, [60].
—The common defense is a remedy for evils due to the
patriotic spirit, [61].
—The common defense the usual blind behind which events
are put in train for eventual hostilities, [62].
—All the nations of warring Europe convinced that they
are fighting a defensive war, [62].
—Which usually takes the form of a defense of the National
Honour, [63].
—Material welfare is of interest to the Dynastic statesman
only as it conduces to political success, [64].
—The policy of national economic self-sufficiency, [67].
—The chief material use of patriotism is its use to a
limited number of persons in their quest of private gain, [67].
—And has the effect of dividing the nations on lines of
rivalry, [76].

[CHAPTER III]

On The Conditions of a Lasting Peace
The patriotic spirit of modern peoples is the abiding
source of contention among nations, [77].
—Hence any calculus of the Chances of Peace will be
a reckoning of forces which may be counted on to keep
a patriotic nation in an unstable equilibrium of peace, [78].
—The question of peace and war at large is a question of
peace and war among the Powers, which are of two contrasted
kinds: those which may safely be counted on spontaneously
to take the offensive and those which will fight on provocation, [79].
—War not a question of equity but of opportunity, [81].
—The Imperial designs of Germany and Japan as the prospective
cause of war, [82].
—Peace can be maintained in two ways: submission to
their dominion, or elimination of these two Powers;
No middle course open, [84].

—Frame of mind of states; men and popular sentiment in
a Dynastic State, [84].
—Information, persuasion and reflection will not subdue
national animosities and jealousies; Peoples of Europe
are racially homogeneous along lines of climatic latitude, [88].
—But loyalty is a matter of habituation, [89].
—Derivation and current state of German nationalism, [94].
—Contrasted with the animus of the citizens of a commonwealth, [103]
—A neutral peace-compact may be practicable in the absence of Germany and Japan,
but it has no chance in their presence, [106].
—The national life of Germany: the Intellectuals, [108].
—Summary of chapter, [116].

[CHAPTER IV]

Peace Without Honour
Submission to the Imperial Power one of the conditions
precedent to a peaceful settlement, [118].
—Character of the projected tutelage, [118].
—Life under the Pax Germanica contrasted with
the Ottoman and Russian rule, [124].
—China and biological and cultural success, [130].
—Difficulty of non-resistant subjection is of a psychological
order, [131].
—Patriotism of the bellicose kind is of the nature of
habit, [134].
—And men may divest themselves of it, [140].
—A decay of the bellicose national spirit must be of
the negative order, the disuse of the discipline out
of which it has arisen, [142].
—Submission to Imperial authorities necessitates
abeyance of national pride among the other peoples, [144].
—Pecuniary merits of the projected Imperial dominion, [145].
—Pecuniary class distinctions in the commonwealths and
the pecuniary burden on the common man, [150].
—Material conditions of life for the common man under
the modern rule of big business, [156].
—The competitive régime, "what the traffic will bear,"
and the life and labor of the common man, [158].
—Industrial sabotage by businessmen, [165].
—Contrasted with the Imperial usufruct and its material
advantages to the common man, [174].

[CHAPTER V]

Peace and Neutrality
Personal liberty, not creature comforts, the ulterior
springs of action of the common man of the democratic
nations, [178].
—No change of spiritual state to be looked for in the
life-time of the oncoming generation, [185].