Imperfect Cosmopolis: Studies in the History of International Legal Theory and Cosmopolitan Ideas

219 Pages·2011·1.643 MB·English

by  Georg Cavallar

Political Philosophy Now
Imperfect Cosmopolis
Studies in the History of International Legal
Theory and Cosmopolitan Ideas
Georg Cavallar
University of Wales Press

political philosophy now
IC.indd 1 17/03/2011 12:54:31
Chief Editor of the Series:
Howard Williams, Aberystwyth University, Wales
Associate Editors:
Wolfgang Kersting, University of Kiel, Germany
Steven B. Smith, Yale University, USA
Peter Nicholson, University of York, England
Renato Cristi, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Canada
Political Philosophy Now is a series which deals with authors,
topics and periods in political philosophy from the perspective of
their relevance to current debates. The series presents a spread of
subjects and points of view from various traditions which include
European and New World debates in political philosophy.
For other titles in this series, please see the University of Wales Press
website: www.uwp.co.uk
IC.indd 2 17/03/2011 12:54:31
political philosophy now
Imperfect Cosmopolis
Studies in the History of
International Legal Theory
and Cosmopolitan Ideas
Georg cavallar
UniVERsity oF walEs pREss • caRdiFF • 2011
IC.indd 3 17/03/2011 12:54:31
© Georg Cavallar, 2011
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any
material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium
by electronic means and whether or not transiently or inciden-
tally to some other use of this publication) without the written
permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the
provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Appli-
cations for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce
any part of this publication should be addressed to The Univer-
sity of Wales Press, 10 Columbus Walk, Brigantine Place, Cardiff,
CF10 4UP.
www.uwp.co.uk
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library.
ISBN 978-0-7083-2367-0 (hardback)
978-0-7083-2382-3 (paperback)
e-ISBN 978-0-7083-2368-7
The right of Georg Cavallar to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 79 of
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Printed by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham, Wiltshire
IC.indd 4 17/03/2011 12:54:31
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
1 Introduction 1
2 Vitoria, Grotius, Pufendorf, Wolff and Vattel:
Accomplices of European Colonialism and Exploitation,
or True Cosmopolitans? 17
3 British Enlightenment: the Triumph of Commercial
Cosmopolitanism 39
4 Kant and the ‘Miserable Comforters’:
Contractual Cosmopolitanism 64
5 Late Eighteenth-century International Legal Theory:
from Cosmopolis to the Idea of Europe 85
6 Immigration, Rights and the Global Community:
Pufendorf, Vattel, Bluntschli and Verdross 109
7 Conclusion 128
Notes 141
Select Bibliography 193
Index 205
IC.indd 5 17/03/2011 12:54:31
IC.indd 6 17/03/2011 12:54:31
Acknowledgements
This book grew out of several papers I delivered at various confer-
ences over the last three years, and articles I published in different
journals. Above all, I want to thank my wife Angelika for her almost
stoic indifference when I was continuously absent-minded, especially
during shared meals, conversations, and whenever she had some-
thing important to tell me. With kind amusement, she allowed me to
work on this book which, in her opinion, has one major disadvan-
tage: it is not going to make me rich. I am grateful to our children
Clemens, Antonia and Valentina for tons of hugs, kisses, and laugh-
ter. The Stoics conceived humans as surrounded by a series of con-
centric circles, one of them being one’s immediate family. I realized
the truth hidden in Edmund Burke’s famous statement that affec-
tions begin at home, and that we should not forget to ‘love the little
platoon we belong to in society’, as it is ‘the first link in the series by
which we proceed toward a love . . . to mankind.’
I am indebted to many people for their help and continuous sup-
port, sometimes for years, especially to Sharon Anderson-Gold,
Gideon Baker, Moritz Csáky, Lisa Ellis, Bardo Fassbender, Jörg
Fisch, Pauline Kleingeld, Chris Laursen, Rebecka Lettevall, Herta
Nagl-Docekal, August Reinisch, Karl-Heinz Ribisch, Garrett W.
Sheldon and, above all, Howard Williams. I am grateful to Uni-
versity of Wales Press and their staff for their helpful and patient
supervising of this book project.
Several chapters are based on previous papers and articles:
Chapter 2 was published in the Journal of the History of Interna-
tional Law, 10 (2008), 181–209. Chapter 3 is a modified version
of a paper delivered at a conference in Frankfurt am Main, and
subsequently published in German. ‘Late eighteenth-century inter-
national legal theory’ grew out of a conference at Tours, October
2007. Chapter 6 is based on ‘Immigration and sovereignty. Nor-
mative approaches in the history of international legal theory
(Pufendorf – Vattel – Bluntschli – Verdross)’, published in Austrian
IC.indd 7 17/03/2011 12:54:31
viii impERFEct cosmopolis
Review of International and European Law, 11 (2006), 3–22, and
presented at a conference in Tilburg, The Netherlands, May 2007.
I am fully aware of the fact that a book like this has its limita-
tions. The range of publications I have consulted is limited, includ-
ing only relevant ones in English and German. As English is not
my native tongue, I should like to ask my readers’ forgiveness, still
hoping that I have succeeded in presenting my ideas clearly and
intelligibly in spite of this fact. In any case, I trust that this book is
a convincing example of what in the first chapter I will call intel-
lectual cosmopolitanism, and that my readers will be able to feel
my fascination with the intellectually vibrant and fascinating eight-
eenth century.
IC.indd 8 17/03/2011 12:54:31