The divided West - Jrgen Habermas

Make no mistake, the normative authority of the United States ofAmerica lies in ruins. Such is the judgment of the most influentialthinker in Europe today reflecting on the political repercussionsof the war in Iraq. The decision to go to war in Iraq, without theexplicit backing of a Security Council Resolution, opened up a deepfissure in the West which continues to divide erstwhile allies andto hinder the attempt to develop a coordinated response to the newthreats posed by international terrorism.


In this timely and important volume, Jurgen Habermas responds tothe dramatic political events of the period since September 11,2001, and maps out a way to move the political agenda forward,beyond the acrimonious debates that have pitched opponents of thewar against the Bush Administration and its coalition of thewilling. What is fundamentally at stake, argues Habermas, is theKantian project of overcoming the state of nature between statesthrough the constitutionalization of international law.


Habermas develops a detailed multidimensional model oftransnational and supranational governance inspired by Kantiancosmopolitanism, situates it in the context of the evolution ofinternational law toward a cosmopolitan constitutional order duringthe nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and defends it against thenew challenge posed by the hegemonic liberal vision underlying theaggressive unilateralism of the current US administration.


The Divided West is a major intervention by one of the most highlyregarded political thinkers of our time. It will be essentialreading for students of sociology, politics, internationalrelations, and international law, and it will be of great interestto anyone concerned with the current and future course of Europeanand international politics.