Abstract
Interstate Peace The question of interstate peace in early modern Europe was connected to the development of the state system itself. The ideas of the modern sovereign state and of a balanced plurality of states were still competing with other political orders, for example dynastic rule and concepts of hierarchical order. This was an important reason for the peculiar bellicosity of the time. The establishment of a balance of several major states in the eighteenth century achieved a degree of stability, though this broke down with the French Revolution. Even rulers regarded the bellicosity of the early modern period as contrary to the Christian ideal of peace. This generated several distinctive peacekeeping projects and activities. Crucial was, however, the permanent interaction between states which generated methods of diplomacy and accepted standards of international law which remain the basis for the modern international system.
