Globalisation, Territoriality and Kantian Cosmopolitanism

It has already been acknowledged in Kantian scholarship an uneasy balance between interpretations which put more emphasis on Kant’s cosmopolitan values and those which give pride of place to his statism. (Huber 2017) The former interpretations may look at Kant for inspiration in the context of debates on the institutional design of a global political order, human rights or migration. (Bohman and Lutz-Bachmann 1997; Follesdal and Maliks 2013). The latter focus on a distinctly Kantian state-based morality. (Hodgson 2010, Ripstein 2009, Stilz 2011, Waldron 2011) Both positions, however, are compatible with an account of political order where territoriality plays a significant role. Recent social theory, however, conceptualises contemporary globalisation processes as marked by a tendency to deterritorialisation. (Ruggie 1993 and Scholte 2000) The focus of this paper is on the relevance of Kantian political theory in the context of present processes of globalisation. References Bohman, J. and Lutz-Bachmann, M. (eds) (1997) Perpetual peace: Essays on Kant’s cosmopolitan ideal. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Follesdal, A. and Maliks, R. (2013) Kantian theory and human rights. London: Routledge. Hodgson, L.-P. (2010) “Kant on the right to freedom: A defense”, in Ethics 120 (4): 791–819. Huber, J. (2017) “No right to unilaterally claim your territory: on the consistency of Kantian statism”, in Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 20(6): 677-696. Ripstein, A. (2009) Force and freedom. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Ruggie, J. G. (1993) “Territoriality and Beyond: Problematizing Modernity in International Relations”, in International Organization 47: 139–74. Scholte, J. A. (2000) Globalization: A Critical Introduction. New York: St. Martin’s. Stilz, A. (2011) Liberal loyalty. Princeton, NY: Princeton University Press. Waldron, J. (2011) “The principle of proximity”, in NYU School of Law Public Law Research Paper 11-08. Available from: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1742413 [Accessed 9 December 2023]