Week 5 - Liberalism I Flashcards
(24 cards)
Immanuel Kant
German Philosopher, Perpetual Peace (1795) - philosophises on how an international peace could be made permanent
- seen as the original articulator about the liberal/cosmopolitan answer to war
- Reconsider international relations and think of an alternative to the imperfect mechanism of nation-states
Kant on Human Nature (1st level)
Kant agrees - humans are individualistic and rational utility maximizers, we can appreciate the fundamental idea of the moral equality of individuals
- Accepts individuals as rational but also understands that rational individuals as moral beings with rights and obligations
- Echoes Hobbes on the State of Nature
The Liberal Account of IR
- In International Politics, it is rational to be good
- Immortality is self-destructive
- The pursuit of perpetual peace is a moral duty and in the long-term interest of states (it is in people’s self-interest to be moral and good)
3 Definitive Articles
Conditions for peace which cannot be achieved magically, each article is tied to a cause of war
The 1st Definitive Article
The Civil Constitution of Every State Shall Be Republican
- The cause of war is the internal structure of states - a Republican constituion is needed where leaders are elected
- States are then forced to justify going to war to their more rational citizens which leads to more careful and restrained behaviour
- States must be well-governed
The 2nd Definitive Article
The Law of Nations Shall Be Founded on a Federation of Free States
- International right of non-intervention in other states
- Federation is the solution to the security dilemma - not a world government, but a peaceful alliance
The 3rd Definitive Article
The Rights of Individuals as Citizens of the World Shall Be Limited to Conditions of Universal Hospitality
- right to a shared earth across borders - all human posess inherent dignity and rights to transcend borders - needed for knowledge exchange and cultural interaction and a mutual respond and understanding across nations and people
- Cosmopolitan right must be limited to universal hospitality (respecting the rights of foreigners and allowing peaceful interaction between people and cultures)
The Liberal vs Kant Reading of the 3 Articles
1st - Liberal says this is the most important, Kant says all three are
2nd - Liberal states should be prioritized over non-Liberals, Kant calls for a federation
3rd - Liberal reading believes that fair trade = peace, Kant highlights that even trade leads to war
The Statist Interpretation of Kant
Looks at making improvements to the current state system, emphasizing legal frameworks to manage international security and preserve state sovereingty
- concerned with interstate relations - rejection of the world government
- ‘federation of states’ - loose league of Republican States that come together to abolish war
Hinsley Interpretation of Kant
His federation is a ‘bond of mutual non-aggression’
Cosmopolitan/Universalist Interpretation of Kant
Promoted a vision of global governance and moral progress which transcends national boundaries
3 elements: should view international life as the global security of mankind, transational ties linking all human beings, there are no unresolvable conflicts (they come from a lack of Enlightenment)
Kant on International Law
International law is only valid when the state of nature has been abandoned - international law isnt enforcable until states agree to operate under a shared legal-political order
- Peace cannot be secured without an agreement between nations - the logical answer is to form an international stage through a universal union
RLE - the League of Nations
Example of an attempt to reform the international system, failed to achieve their goals and was an active obstacle to the maintenence of order
The Kantian Approach
No single approach, Kant is an exploratory approach and he is aware of the trade-offs
According to Kant, an international state is difficult to achieve:
- differences in cultures and linguistics
- impractical and contrary to freedom
Kant: peace can be achieve through domestic means
1) Disband domestic armies
2) Implement a Republican gov’t since it will be less inclined to engage in war = citizens can resist against the tendencies of an aggressive leader
3) Moral Enlightenment - does not accept individuals as peaceful, but believes in the moral capacity of people to be enlightened
- his emphasis on the capacity of improvement ont he individual and domestic levels allows him to overcome the problem of many theorists who accept Hobbes’ ideas
Hurrel: Was Kant a Statist or a Cosmopolitan
Claims that he was a statist is strong - Kant is aware and accepts that states must defend themselves, more concerned with improving that state system (strengthen the legal order and build mutual rights with states not people)
- The Cosmopolitan/universalist side - the impulse towards perpetual peace comes from individuals: from the moral outrage @ destructiveness of war and the ability to learn from experiences
Kant was a statist in he was aware of the positive functions of the state system and the practical difficulties of reform - he was a comsopolitan + aware of the limits of the state system
Kant on Non-Intervention
- Legal restraints to a Federation poses a danger to international anarchy
- The belief that Republican states hold values that should be protected
Kant on the Cosmopolitan Ideals
Kant believes that the impulse towards perpetual peace comes from the moral outrage which individuals have with the destructiveness of war and the ability to learn from those experiences
- Republicanism solved the problem of modern political freedom (created individuals and collective self-determination, only form of gov’t that can end senseless and bloody cabinet wars)
- Kant - anarchy was unsettled domestic peace that negated the ideal of political self-determination
Critics: Kant’s arguments are rational and consistent, negligible change that Europe’s Great Powers would accede to claims of reason
Herder 1774
Promoted multiculturalism and formed a cosmopolitan model based on cultural belonging
The UN Human Rights Regime
Individuals are autonomous bearers of rights - individuals whose human rights have been directly violated can petition courts for redress
RLE - 1998 indictment of Pinochet
RLE - Serbia’s Slobadan Milosevic - indicted for Kosovo 1999
RLE - the EU’s Democratic deficiency
Term to highlight restraints to the EU’s authority and legimacy in the EU decision making process
- EU institutions are too distand from ordinary citizens and lack democratic control eg. cannot raise taxes or introduce new laws
Super-legalism
Used to describe a legal or constitutional system where law and legal procedures are given high authroity @ the expense of political legitimacy
RLE - US invasion of Iraq 2003
- Suggested that international norms exist for the convinece of Great Powers who are free to ignore them, international law is a cover for the ‘rights of the strongest’
- America directly violated an international mandate - mocking the norms and procedures of international law
- change in American political tradition from Wilson (American had been the forefront of a new-international)
Machtpolitik - Power Politics - true reasoning for US intervention in Iraq (wanted to achieve a firm political position in the oil rich Middle East, ensure Israel’s security), introduced the concept of pre-emptive war - UNSC could not stop the invasion since they were undemocratic and gave weight to Great Powers
