Open AccessThe figures of (a)symmetry: 'Pirates' and the world as a closed commercial state
Author(s) -
Petar Bojanić
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
theoria
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2406-081X
pISSN - 0351-2274
DOI - 10.2298/theo1004005b
Subject(s) - sovereignty , empire , constitution , state (computer science) , adversary , philosophy , law , league , world war ii , political science , epistemology , law and economics , sociology , politics , statistics , physics , mathematics , algorithm , astronomy , computer science
My intention is not to simply evoke Schmitt's critique of Kant's ideas concerning preemptive war and the unjust enemy - as we all know, these ideas were not Kant's nor is their critique original; after all, both Kant and Schmitt are simply brilliant compilers in international law - rather, I want to preliminarily demonstrate that every project concerning the constitution of an empire, league of nations or world government (or world governance) implies a paradoxical existence of an ambiguous 'exterior' (outside, without). It seems that the existence (or nonexistence) of something 'outside' of the world or 'outside' of borderless sovereignty, is a precondition for any theory of empire.