The Cosmopolitan War Machine

Abstract

The endless struggle between state sovereignty and individual rights is central to discussions of political conflict and human rights. In this essay, I will be utilizing, in addition to cosmopolitan philosophy, Deleuze and Guattari’s metaphysical masterpiece: Nomadology: The War Machine. I lay out a proposal for a potential method through which subalterns and other oppressed groups might obtain more cohesive representation, and use this representation to better protect their rights against the violent oppression of the states. I use ideas of establishing and perpetuating norms through legal and political discourse as a key tool for the continuation of the cosmopolitan project, and as a power source for the war machine. For this, I consult authors such as Immanuel Kant, Seyla Benhabib, Amos Nascimento, and John Rawls. The war machine itself is the basis of my entire approach. It is a structure through which the cosmopolitan project can be actualized. This proposal is one that provides a potential route to obtaining perpetual peace.