A Kantian Argument against World Poverty

In modern debates about global justice Immanuel Kant is often appealed to as a critic of the idea of a world state. However, I show that an analysis of Kant’s late work on rights and justice provides ample resources for disagreeing with those who take him to call for only modest changes in global politics. Kant’s comments in the Doctrine of Right clarify that he thinks we need a coercively enforced global civil condition. But his work also contains ideas that imply that, within such a global legal order, there must be no extreme forms of poverty and inequality. I also show that among the minimum requirements a global civil condition has to meet is the right to democratic participation. The result of this investigation shows Kant as a philosopher who can be accurately invoked in support of theories that demand extensive global reforms.