The Public Uses of Coercion and Force

"The need to replace force with law is central to a Kantian theory of war. In such a theory the only ground for using force is the prevention of wrongful force. War is barbaric and wrongful. A key theme in Kantian political and legal philosophy is every individual's right to independence, which can only be secured through a legitimate state, which in turn is obliged to repudiate war and pursue peace. Yet the Kantian project of achieving perpetual peace among states seems (at best) an unfulfilled hope. The wider category of global justice does not fare much better, at least according to most theorists. The modern state is often portrayed as a major obstacle to both peace and global justice. Kantian theories are distinctive insofar as they try to carve out a relatively hopeful role for the state in international affairs, though one that is grounded in an analysis of the state's nature rather than being driven by completely abstract moral considerations. Modern states' authority claims and their exercise of power and sovereignty span a spectrum from the most stringently and explicitly codified- the constitutional level- to the most fluid and turbulent- acts of war. Inter alia, that su