Kant’s mantle : cosmopolitanism, federalism and constitutionalism as European ideologies

Abstract

This article explores the ways cosmopolitanism, federalism and constitutionalism have evolved in Europe from core philosophical concepts to political programmes, and ultimately ‘ideological benchmarks’ with highly contested meanings. I identify three alternative intellectual strategies for their appropriation, and through them the appropriation of ‘Kant’s mantle’, which both reflect and affect the EU public sphere. In the process, I ask how they can serve as resources conceptually to ground a third way for Europe. First, essentialist strategies appeal to affinities with the essence of these traditions, an essence anterior to or distinct from the particular variant of the ‘state writ large’ with which they might be identified in the public and scholarly imagination. Second, composite strategies employ various modifiers to deflect criticism. Thirdly, pollination strategies retain the flavor and questions raised by the three isms without necessarily coopting their labels.