1 - On hospitality: rereading Kant's cosmopolitan right

Summary

This chapter begins with an analysis of Kant's understanding of cosmopolitan right. Kant's discussion focuses on moral and legal relations which hold among individuals across bounded communities, and thereby demarcates a novel domain situated between the law of specific polities on the one hand and customary international law on the other. Katrin Flikschuh states this clearly: “Kant recognizes three distinct though related levels of rightful relation: the ‘Right of a State’ specifies relations of Right between persons within a state; the ‘Right of Nations’ pertains to relations of Right between states; and ‘the Right for all nations’ or ‘cosmopolitan Right’ concerns relations of Right between persons and foreign states” (Flikschuh 2000, 184). The normative dilemmas of political membership are to be localized within this third sphere of jus cosmopoliticum.

“Perpetual Peace” and cosmopolitan right – a contemporary reevaluation

Written in 1795, upon the signing of the Treaty of Basel by Prussia and revolutionary France, Kant's essay on “Perpetual Peace” has enjoyed considerable revival of attention in recent years (see Bohman and Lutz-Bachmann 1997). What makes this essay particularly interesting under the current conditions of political globalization is the visionary depth of Kant's project for perpetual peace among nations. Kant formulates three “definitive articles for perpetual peace among states.” These read: “The Civil Constitution of Every State shall be Republican”; “The Law of Nations shall be founded on a Federation of Free States”; and “The Law of World Citizenship Shall be Limited to Conditions of Universal Hospitality” (Kant [1795] 1923, 434–446; [1795] 1994: 99–108).