Beyond Sovereignty? Cosmopolitanism and Realist Thought on the World State

Abstract

The past decade has seen a dramatic burgeoning of literature addressing the legacy of classical Realist thought in International Relations. While much of this has been inspired by the calamities induced by the ‘imperialistic’ overtones of US foreign policy under the presidency of George W. Bush and by a concern over the intensification of normative strategies designed to enhance the possibilities of humanitarian intervention, questions have also been raised concerning the potential transformation of existing state institutions as a path toward a more peaceful world. While it is generally assumed that Realist thought is hostile to ‘poststatist’ or ‘post-national’ thought, there are multiple resources for those who seek to demonstrate that classical Realists, in particular, were prepared to think beyond the modern state system and envisage future institutional orders that might be more conducive to peace. Of particular note in this regard are Hans Morgenthau’s musings on the world state, set out at some length in Politics Among Nations. As this chapter aims to show, Morgenthau’s arguments surrounding the world state are torn between the insistence that, on the one hand, change was necessary for the survival of humanity and the recognition, on the other, that such change was fraught with difficulties and dangers and might, in fact, prove to be more destructive and violent than the existing order.