A POLITICAL CONSTITUTION FOR THE PLURALIST WORLD SOCIETY?

Abstract

The chances of the project of a “cosmopolitan order” being successful are not worse now than they were in 1945 or in 1989-90. This does not mean that the chances are good, but we should not lose sight of the scale of things. The Kantian project first became part of the political agenda with the League of Nations, in other words after more than 200 years, and the idea of a cosmopolitan order first received a lasting embodiment with the foundation of the United Nations. Since the early 1990s, the UN has gained in political significance, and has emerged as a not inconsiderable factor in world political conflicts. Even the super-power saw itself compelled to enter into confrontation with the world organization when the latter refused to provide legitimacy for a unilateral intervention. The United Nations survived the subsequent attempt to marginalize it and is now about to manage the urgently needed reform of its main body and limbs.