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The Rights of States, the Rule of Law, and Coercion: Reflections on Pauline Kleingeld's Kant and Cosmopolitanism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 May 2014

Alyssa R. Bernstein
Alyssa R. Bernstein*
Affiliation:
Ohio University Email: bernstei@ohio.edu
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Abstract

Pauline Kleingeld argues that according to Kant it would be wrong to coerce a state into an international federation, due to the wrongness of paternalism. Although I agree that Kant opposes the waging of war as a means to peace, I disagree with Kleingeld's account of the reasons why he would oppose coercing a state into a federation. Since she does not address the broader question of the permissibility of interstate coercion, she does not properly address the narrower question of whether coercion to compel a state to join a federation can be permissible. I revise and supplement her arguments.

Keywords

KantKleingeldByrdHruschkaRipsteinRawlscosmopolitanismwarstate of natureglobal justicerepublicanismcoercionself-governmentpaternalismbarbarismsovereigntymoral politician

Information

Type
Critical Exchange
Information
Kantian Review , Volume 19 , Issue 2 , July 2014 , pp. 233 - 249
Copyright
Copyright © Kantian Review 2014 

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