Liberal International Thought Since Immanuel Kant Essay

Liberal International Thought Since Immanuel Kant - Essay Example This essay stresses that liberal thought has followed Kant’s opposition to direct democracy, where individuals in society cannot directly participate in politics. Instead, it has followed the tradition of people selecting representatives to provide representation on the national stage. The discussion above has sought to show that liberal international thought has not really moved on since Immanuel Kant through a study of liberalism in the contemporary world. The arguments within it have shown that from the time of Kant, a liberal international thought has essentially remained the same with very few variations between the various thinkers and has come to the conclusion that liberal thought has become inflexible. One of the arguments that have been made is that Kant’s ideas concerning the creation of constitutional democracies all over the world to ensure peace are still being practiced. Furthermore, a liberal political thought has continued to follow the Kantian belief that the power of the state has to be limited in order to protect individuals against the arbitrary use of power by leadership, hence the definition of the extent of a leader’s authority in a constitution. The discussion has also argued for the persistence of meliorism, which is an idea that was vigorously supported by Kant and remains relevant in liberal international thought today. In addition, it has been argued that liberal Kantian thought has led to a situation where there have developed conflicts between liberal countries and those that tend to be more conservative.