In person icon Institutions of Peace. Perspectives from Kantian Political Theory

Abstract

The news reminds us every day that, unfortunately, peace remains a topic as relevant as ever. Recently, questions about what can justify war, what is justified in war, and how to establish peace, have again attracted the attention of political theorists. Their works relies crucially on the political theory of Immanuel Kant. Whereas there is considerable consensus in the literature about Kant’s position on war, there is still sharp disagreement about Kant’s related views about the establishment of peace. The aim of this workshop is to research this disagreement and to further clarify Kant’s position on the institutions of peace. The question of peace and its institutions is currently a topical issue. However, important aspects of this topic still await clarification. How, precisely, to define peace? And how is peace best established (Hathaway and Shapiro 2017)? Is peace always preferable to conflict (Margalit 2013; Forst 2011)? The recent literature on war and peace (Huber 2022; Ripstein 2021a, Niesen 2021) relies critically on Kant’s notion of the state, and his understanding of both international and cosmopolitan law. Unclear, however, is what the establishment of peace requires, as part of a Kantian approach. Is a full-blown ‘world federation’ (Kleingeld 2004) necessary, as some argue? Others (Ripstein 2009, p. 227-228) think Kant’s theory lacks ‘the resources to argue for either an executive or a legislative international body.’ This workshop addresses these and related issues with which the discipline is currently grappling. What has become clear to Kantian scholars, is that to shed light on these questions, it is neccesary to understand how national law, international law and cosmopolitan law should work together as one system of public law. However, scholars disagree about the status of the rather restricted rights and duties of international and cosmopolitan law that Kant mentions (Huber 2022). Are these rights and duties already ‘public’ and ‘peremptory’ (Ripstein 2021b) or perhaps still ‘natural’ and ‘provisional’, in need of further institutional development (Niesen 2021)?

Title	Details
Kant on War and Peace	View Paper Details
Kelsen and Kant on the Necessity of Establishing an International Court of Justice.	View Paper Details
Can We Achieve Perpetual Peace Through Cosmopolitanism?	View Paper Details
Kant’s Cosmopolitan Right and Peace	View Paper Details
Applications and Limitations of Kantian Institutional Thinking	View Paper Details