Kantian cosmopolitan law and the idea of a cosmopolitan constitution

History of Political Thought

Volumn 27, Issue 4, 2006, Pages 661-684

  Brown, Garrett Wallace ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD   (United Kingdom)

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EID: 33845618969     PISSN: 0143781X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (76)

1. J. Derrida, 'On Cosmopolitanism', in On Cosmopolitanism and Forgiveness, trans. M. Dooley and M. Hughes (London, 2002), pp. 3-24. By 'historically perverted', Derrida is simply suggesting that history has often witnessed states making claims to principles of hospitality while also systematically engaging in imperialistic and globally inhospitable behaviour.
2. Hospitality can be loosely defined as the cordial and generous reception of guests that is both receptive and open minded to their particular ways of living.
3. M. Wight, International Theory: The Three Traditions, ed. G. Wight and A. Roberts (Leicester, 1991).
4. O. O'Neill, 'Transnational Justice', in Political Theory Today, ed. D. Held (Oxford, 1995), pp. 276-304.
5. C. Jones, Global Justice: Defending Cosmopolitanism (Oxford, 1999).
6. M. Wight, 'An Anatomy of International Thought', Review of International Studies, 13 (1987), p. 226.
7. I. Kant, The Metaphysics of Morals, ed. M. Gregor (Cambridge, 1996), p. 24.
8. I. Kant, The Metaphysics of Morals, Ibid., p. 30.
9. I. Kant, The Metaphysics of Morals, Ibid., p. 50.
10. I. Kant, The Metaphysics of Morals, p. 50. Ibid.
11. M. Gregor, 'Kant's Approach to Constitutionalism', in Constitutionalism: The Philosophical Dimension, ed. A. Rosenbaum (New York, 1988), pp. 69-87, p. 82.
12. Kant, Metaphysics of Morals, p. 25.
13. Gregor, 'Kant's Approach to Constitutionalism', p. 79.
14. D. Archibugi, 'Immanuel Kant, Cosmopolitan Law and Peace', European Journal of International Relations, 1 (4) (1995), pp. 429-56, p. 449.
15. I. Kant, 'Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch', in Kant's Political Writings, ed. H. Reiss (Cambridge, 1970), pp. 93-130, p. 106.
16. S. Anderson-Gold, Cosmopolitanism and Human Rights (Cardiff, 2001).
17. F.H. Hinsley, Power and the Pursuit of Peace (Cambridge, 1963).
18. Derrida, 'On Cosmopolitanism'.
19. O. O'Neill, Faces of Hunger: An Essay on Poverty, Justice and Development (London, 1986).
20. To be fair, O'Neill is mostly concerned with human development and the satisfaction of basic needs and does not specifically discuss cosmopolitan hospitality. However, I believe this oversight to be an error and I will now attempt to draw out the laws of hospitality.
21. I. Kant, 'Idea of a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Purpose', in Kant's Political Writings, ed. Reiss, pp. 41-53, p. 51.
22. I. Kant, 'On the Common Saying: This May be True in Theory, but it does not Apply in Practice', in Kant's Political Writings, ed. Reiss, pp. 61-92, p. 73.
23. I. Kant, 'On the Common Saying: This May be True in Theory, but it does not Apply in Practice', in Kant's Political Writings, pp. 61-92, Ibid.
24. Kant, The Metaphysics of Morals, p. 121.
25. C. Covell, Kant and the Law of Peace: A Study in the Philosophy of International Law and International Relations (New York, 1998), p. 143.
26. Kant, 'Perpetual Peace', p. 106.
27. Kant, 'Perpetual Peace', p. 106. Ibid.
28. Kant, 'Perpetual Peace', Ibid., p. 128.
29. Kant, Metaphysics of Morals, p. 121.
30. Kant, 'Perpetual Peace', p. 106.
31. Kant, 'Perpetual Peace', p. 106. Ibid.
32. Kant, 'Perpetual Peace', p. 106. Ibid.
33. Kant, 'Perpetual Peace', Ibid., pp. 106-7. Quotes also taken from footnotes.
34. I. Kant, 'What is Enlightenment?', in Kant's Political Writings, ed. Reiss, pp. 54-60, p. 55.
35. Covell, Kant and the Law of Peace, p. 143.
36. Kant, 'Theory and Practice', p. 85.
37. Kant, Metaphysics of Morals, p. 121.
38. Kant, 'Perpetual Peace', p. 106.
39. Kant, Metaphysics of Morals, p. 121.
40. Kant, 'Perpetual Peace', p. 106.
41. Kant, Metaphysics of Morals, p. 122.
42. Kant, 'Perpetual Peace', p. 105.
43. Kant, Metaphysics of Morals, p. 121.
44. Derrida, 'On Cosmopolitanism', p. 21.
45. Kant, 'Perpetual Peace', p. 106.
46. This is not to say that Derrida is categorically wrong in questioning Kantian hospitality, for it may be the case that the laws of hospitality do not protect asylum seekers to Derrida's satisfaction under closer scrutiny. My point is that there seems to be room for interpretation and broader application within the laws of hospitality than Derrida immediately suggests and that they may indeed satisfy an obligation to protect asylum seekers.
47. Kant, 'Perpetual Peace', pp. 106-7.
48. I. Kant, Appendix, 'Transcendental Logic II, Dialectics I, Ideas in General', in The Critique of Pure Reason, trans. J.M.D. Meiklejohn (New York, 1900).
49. Kant, The Metaphysics of Morals, p. 89.
50. Kant, The Metaphysics of Morals, Ibid., p. 53.
51. Kant, The Metaphysics of Morals, Ibid., p. 89.
52. Kant, The Metaphysics of Morals, Ibid., p. 120.
53. Although the US constitution does not require renewal, it can be legally dissolved as the supreme law of the land with a majority vote of congress and the subsequent ratification by two thirds of all fifty states.
54. Kant, Metaphysics of Morals, p. 115.
55. Constitutional rigidity is a rather ambiguous concept with various complexities within legal theory. Nevertheless, it is meant here generally in that a rigid constitution is one so designed that 'it is hard to alter ... seldom altered and or cannot be amended or altered as a supreme law'. This includes being unable to legally withdraw. K.C. Wheare, Modern Constitutions (Oxford, 1951), p. 23.
56. A. Linklater, Men and Citizens in the Theory of International Relations (2nd edn., Basingstoke, 1990), p. 101.
57. Kant, Theory and Practice', p. 90.
58. Kant, 'Perpetual Peace', p. 104.
59. F.A. Hayek, Law, Legislation and Liberty (London, 1973), p. 134.
60. Kant, 'Perpetual Peace', p 106.
61. Hayek, Law, Legislation and Liberty, p. 36.
62. For a more detailed argument regarding the versatility of what can be considered a constitution see C. Fabre, Social Rights Under the Constitution (Oxford, 2000), especially ch. 3, pp. 67-79.
63. T. Gray, 'Constitutionalism: An Analytic Framework', in Constitutionalism, ed. J. Pennock and J. Chapman (New York, 1979), pp. 189-209.
64. J. Habermas, Between Facts and Norms, trans. W. Rehg (Cambridge, 1996), p. 499.
65. Habermas, Between Facts and Norms, p. 499.
66. J. Waldron, 'Kant's Legal Positivism', Harvard Law Review, 109 (1996), pp. 1535-66.
67. Gregor, 'Kant's Approach to Constitutionalism', p. 71.
68. It should be noted that Kant was specifically referring to standing armies with the capability to wage foreign wars and that state armies could be maintained for domestic defence while being gradually reduced to a policing-sized force. One possible alternative, kindly suggested by an anonymous referee, is that federated states could reduce their standing armies while contributing the reduced troops to some joint federation security force. This alternative is plausible as long as the federal force was operated equally as a multinational force and was not under the exclusive command of a central authority. In this regard, this alternative could satisfy Article 3 while also avoiding the centralization of military power to a federal authority or by placing the force in the control of one particular federated member.
69. It is interesting to note that many modern peace treaties contain almost every aspect of these preliminary articles, in that most peace treaties demand good faith by arms reduction, clauses protecting self-determination, non-interference demands, anti-military loan restrictions and limits to weapons of mass destruction.
70. Kant, 'Perpetual Peace', p. 98.
71. G.W. Brown, 'State Sovereignty, Federation and Kantian Cosmopolitanism', European Journal of International Relations, 11 (2005), pp. 495-522.
72. Kant, 'Theory and Practice', p. 74.
73. Kant, 'Theory and Practice', p. 74. Ibid.
74. C. McIlwain, Constitutionalism: Ancient and Modern (Ithaca, 1947), p. 21.
75. It should be noted that this limiting function is not a necessary requirement of constitutionalism, only that many constitutions maintain articles that do in fact limit government. See Fabre, Social Rights Under the Constitution, p. 60.
76. Kant, 'Perpetual Peace', p. 102.