Konstitutionalisierung des Völkerrechts und die Legitimationsprobleme einer verfassten Weltgesellschaft

Starting with a decisive conceptual move--a differentiation among statehood, democratic constitution and civic solidarity, this essay explores the idea of a political constitution for a world society. It puts forth the non-state concept of a legally constituted international community that obligates nation-states to co-exist peacefully and authorizes them to guarantee the basic human rights of their citizens. Doing so, it detaches the notion of a constitutionalization of international laws from the idea of a world republic. Doing so, the essay addresses the Nagelian problem, distinguishing between the legitimate expectations and demands of cosmopolitan and national citizens, and demonstrating how potential conflicts between these two sets of expectations and demands can be institutionally cushed and processed. It examines how the legitimation requirements of a democratically constituted world society without a world government could be satisfied, provided that nation-states and their populations undergo certain learning processes in global democracy.