Peloponnesian War Analysis

Due to the schism between, “hawks” and “doves” in foreign policy, the pursuit of peace is perceived as just and the pursuit of war as unjust. This dynamic aims to prevent the injustices that can come out of war, but it ignores those that persist in peace. The simplification of this relationship fails to consider that the motivations and aims of war can help to justify its righteousness and create stability that upholds principles of justice. The conflict between these virtues of justice and peace are universal in international relations, but they can be examined specifically in the case studies of Thucydides’ The Peloponnesian War that chronicles the war among Athens and Sparta and their allies and Francisco de Vitoria’s On the American Indian, which examines the Spanish conquest of Latin America. Both Athens and Sparta in the

Before the fighting began, the Athenians believed that “war [was] inevitable,” (Thucydides 1998, I.144) illustrating that in the unjust society, there is deep instability that will lead to war; even though there may be peace, it will not be sustainable without justice. Similarly, in the Corinthians’ plea to the Spartans, they say that peace is only sustainable if there is justice (Thucydides 1998, I.71). Furthermore, the short-term peace that is achieved by the warring states does not last because it was not wrought with just intentions. Both states signed the treaties because they suffered defeats and it was in their interests, not because they wanted to do what was just. (Thucydides 1998, V.15, V.36). A peaceful society, although free of fighting, is not truly peaceful unless it is just, so, to reconcile justice and peace is to have a war to eliminate injustices in the world. Yet, the false claims of justice not only give false expectations, but they also pervert what justice is by tying it to