The European union as Kantian neoliberalism

Abstract

The EU is perceived by the EU scholars as Kantian because of the soft power, the EU values, its aid assistance and the promotion of multilateralism. However, in reality, the EU is not Kantian because it does not follow Kant’s essay on Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch. The EU has its own standing armies and also behave itself as a big creditor, which are in contrast to Kant’s preliminary article 3 and 4 related to there should be no standing armies and no international debts. In addition to military, the EU spends fewer budgets on military and tries to limit its own operation to the collaboration with international organizations such as the United Nations (UN) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The EU enjoys being as a military free rider and let the United States alone to tackle with the global security. This is because the EU and the EU voters do not intend to be the military superpower and share the military burden with the US. In addition, as a result of the use of soft power, it is a good claim for the EU to neglect the military burden and enjoys more economics. Moreover, the EU also exploits many advantages from providing aid assistance in developing countries because it can open markets with those countries and also profits from the lending of money. This is resulted in the success of the EU as the world’s largest trader and a big creditor. For this reason, the EU is not Kantian idealism but is rather Kantian neoliberalism.