'We Kant have bad states' : on evilization in liberal world politics
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1384-5748; 1740-3898
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International politics, 2018, Vol. 55, No. 2, pp. 297-315
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VAHA, Milla Emilia, ’We Kant have bad states’ : on evilization in liberal world politics, International politics, 2018, Vol. 55, No. 2, pp. 297-315 - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/62546
Abstract
Are there truly ‘evil’ states and if there are, how should the international community react and respond to the existence of evil? In this paper I am exploring the scope and meaning of ‘evilization’ by going back to Immanuel Kant, his conception of ‘unjust enemy’ and the prohibition of war he provides. The article is a reply to the piece by Harald Müller published in this journal a few years back and critically expands his important contribution to the literature exploring the nature of evil in Kant’s thought and consequent relationship between liberals and non-liberals in International Relations. By looking at the possibility of punitive measures against the evil states in particular, the paper wishes to illustrate how far the dichotomies of ‘good’/‘evil’, ‘liberal’/‘non-liberal’ and ‘inclusion’/‘exclusion’ can progress within the framework of liberal international thought and increasingly fragmented contemporary world politics. I wish to stress that the evils exist, to great extend, because the liberal international order creates and maintains them but also suggest that this is not a necessary condition of international society.
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Published: March 2018