power, in so far as the laws reflect the will of individuals, the
form of the State will be the one based on the principle of
right.
In Kant’s republican political structure, individuals, in their
capacity as citizens, enjoy their freedom from the perils of an
unjust war by remaining the lawmaker themselves: “For a
citizen must always be regarded as a co-legislative member
of the state (i.e. not just as means, but also as an end in
itself), and he must therefore give his free consent through
his representatives […]. Only under this limiting condition
may the state put him to service in dangerous enterprises.”2
At the same time, given that law is the reflection of the will of
the individuals, Kant’s conclusion follows that laws cannot be
unjust.3 Fernando Teson claims that by ‘republican’, Kant
means “what we would call today a liberal democracy, a form
of political organisation that provides full respect for human
rights”.4
The Kantian vision of global peace, which linked the idea of
democracy and individual human rights to peace,5 has been
extremely popular among liberal international lawyers,
2
3
4
5
18
Ibid, 166–167. See also, Kant, “Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch (1795),”
in Kant: Political Writings, 99–102.
Kant, “The Metaphysics of Morals,” 139.
F Teson, “The Kantian Theory of International Law,” Columbia Law Review 92
(1992): 61.
See, Teson, “Kantian Theory of International Law.” See also, Thomas Franck,
“The Emerging Right to Democratic Governance,” American Journal of
International Law 86 (1992): 88.