Kant, International Law, and the Problem of Humanitarian Intervention

Journal of International Political Theory 6 (1):1-22 (2010)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

International law has one principal mechanism for settling the legality of humanitarian interventions, the United Nations Security Council's power to authorise coercion. However, this is hardly satisfactory in practice and has failed to provide a more secure juridical basis for determining significant conflicts among states over when humanitarian force is justified. This article argues that, in spite of Immanuel Kant's limited analysis of intervention, and his silence on humanitarian intervention, his political theory provides the elements of a compelling analysis on this topic. Five components of Kant's roadmap towards perpetual peace and an eventual world republic give conditional support for humanitarian intervention even in imperfect juridical conditions. This support is conditional on the achievement of juridical progress within and among states and has implications for the development of cosmopolitan citizenship. From Kant we learn that, ultimately, humanitarian intervention should become a matter of coercive law enforcement rather than an ethical question of ‘saving strangers’.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,616

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Legitimacy, humanitarian intervention, and international institutions.Miles Kahler - 2011 - Politics, Philosophy and Economics 10 (1):20-45.
Eight Principles for Humanitarian Intervention.Fernando R. Tesón - 2006 - Journal of Military Ethics 5 (2):93-113.

Analytics

Added to PP
2013-12-19

Downloads
48 (#293,199)

6 months
7 (#176,166)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?