Kant, Habermas and the Constitutionalisation of International Law

Abstract

This chapter explores the moral and legal dynamics and empirical connotations attached to Habermas ’ normative model of global constitutionalism. In particular, the chapter engages with Habermas’ claim that the UN is paradigmatic of the evolution from proto-constitutional legal tenets to the constitutional authorities of a cosmopolitan legal order. Whilst acknowledging that the UN has yet to move comprehensively in a cosmopolitan direction, the chapter argues that the UN reflects the foundations of a budding global constitutional order resembling something comparable to a legally constituted community of states and their citizens. This is as a consequence of the characteristics and innovations associated with the UN Charter which, in turn, have come to constitute prima facie aspects of a global constitution. In the process, and as the chapter articulates, the UN has come to offer a potential ‘stepping stone’ to the establishment of a cosmopolitan legal order.