My monograph provides a philosophical critique of legal relations between the EU and 'distant strangers' neither located within, nor citizens of, its Member States. Starting with the EU's commitment in Articles 3(5) and 21 TEU to advance democracy, human rights, and the rule of law in 'all its relations with the wider world', I examine in detail salient EU and international legal materials and thereafter critique them in the light of a theory of just global legal relations derived from Kant's philosophy of right. In so doing, I depart from comparable Kantian scholarship on the EU by centering the discussion not around the essay Toward Perpetual Peace, but around the Doctrine of Right, Kant's final and comprehensive statement of his general theory of law.
The book thus sheds light on areas of EU law (EU external relations law, standing to bring judicial review), public international law (jurisdiction, state responsibility, global public goods) and human rights (human rights jurisdiction), and also critiques the widespread identification of the EU as a Kantian federation of peace.
The book is based on my doctoral thesis, which won the 2020 René Cassin Thesis Prize (English section).
'Ganesh has managed to deliver a highly original account of both jurisdiction in international and EU law, and of Kantian legal philosophy. His book offers an insightful theorization of the EU and its role in the world – and at the same time an often harsh (but all too justified) critique of the ways in which that role is given shape. He helpfully illustrates many of the more abstract and theoretical concepts developed in the book – the distinction between power and authority, between harms and wrongs, or the importance of a “rightful condition” in Kantian legal philosophy – through some very enlightening examples.'
- Joris van der Riet, Common Market Law Review
(2021) Rightful Relations with Distant Strangers: Kant, the EU, and the Wider World (Law and Practical Reason Series). Oxford: Hart/Bloomsbury (119,700 words)
Reviewed by:
Joris van der Riet ‘Book Review: Rightful Relations with Distant Strangers: Kant, the EU, and the Wider World, by Aravind Ganesh. (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2021)’ (2023) 60(3) Common Market Law Review 913-916.
André Nunes Chaib at EULawLive.
(2021) (with Ester Herlin-Karnell and Gerard Conway) European Union Law in Context. Oxford: Hart/Bloomsbury
(2024) 'Riddling in Threes, the Empty Fourth, and the Invisible Empire: Kant and EU Law' in Rossanna Deplano, Luigi Lonardo, Tobias Nowak, & Giulia Gentile (eds.), Research Handbook on Interdisciplinary Methods in EU Law. Elgar: Cheltenham, 302-325
(2021) ‘Between Wormholes and Blackholes: A Kantian (Ripsteinian) Account of Human Rights in War’ In: Ester Herlin-Karnell & Enzo Rossi (eds.), The Public Uses of Force: From Constitutionalism to War. Oxford: OUP, 151-170
(2019) ‘Distant Strangers and Standing in Polisario’ In: Hélène Ruiz Fabri (ed.), International Law and Litigation. Baden-Baden: Nomos, 625-658
(2024) '"Waves of Freedom": Kant and the Right to Rescue on the High Seas' 72 Buffalo Law Review 1455-1525
(2018) ‘Wirtbarkeit: Cosmopolitan Right and Innkeeping’, 24 (3) Legal Theory 159-190
(2017) ‘Unilateral Jurisdiction to Provide Global Public Goods: A Republican Account’, 42 (2) Brooklyn Journal of International Law 571-658
(2016) ‘The European Union’s Human Rights Obligations Towards Distant Strangers’, 37 (3) Michigan Journal of International Law 475-538
(2014) ‘Contempt and Execution in Vindicating the Right to Education’, 29 (1) Southern African Public Law 19-36
(2012) (with Natalie Harsdorf Enderndorf) ‘Monopsony in European Food Markets’, No 1/2012 Revue Européenne de Droit de la Consommation 93-118
(2010) ‘The Right to Food and Buyer Power’, 11 (11) German Law Journal 1190-1244
(2010) ‘Insulating the Constitution: Yong Vui Kong v Public Prosecutor [2010] SGCA 20’, 10 (2) Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal 273-292
(2008) ‘Appointing Foxes to Guard Henhouses: The European Posted Workers‘ Directive’, 15 (1) Columbia Journal of European Law 123-142
(2025) ‘Climate, Cricket, Kiwis, Kant: a comment on Smith v Fonterra Co-Operative Group Ltd’ (LaPSE of Reason, 12 August 2025)
(2025) ‘A Kantian Critique of SS and Others v Italy’ (Völkerrechtsblog, 15 July 2025)
(2024) 'Review: Jakob Huber, Kant's Grounded Cosmopolitanism: Original Common Possession and the Right to Visit' 22 Contemporary Political Theory (4 pages, 1537 words)
(2023) 'Book Review: Natalie L. Dobson, Extraterritoriality and Climate Change Jurisdiction: Exploring EU Climate Change Protection under International Law. Oxford: Hart Publishing 2021' 60(1) Common Market Law Review 269-273.
(2021) 'Op-Ed: "Who Speaks for the Sahrawis?" The General Court's Front Polisario v Council judgments of 29 September 2021', EULawLive (23 November 2021)
(2019) ‘Cooling-Off Period (Investment Arbitration)’, Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Procedural Law (Oxford: OUP)
(2014) (with Mariusz Lukasciewicz) ‘Still Walking to Freedom’, Current Affairs in Perspective Series, Fondation Pierre du Bois Working Paper No. 4 (1), 1-11
(2013) 'Among School Children in the Transkei', Daily Maverick, (12 March 2013)
This co-authored textbook provides an explanatory and contextual view of EU law and its impact in a simple and easily accessible yet analytical manner. It illustrates the power struggles behind a given EU law act, to allow for full understanding of how it developed. This allows the student to understand EU law as a force in the increasingly globalized world, rather than as technical and doctrinal subject.
The textbook begins by setting the scene of EU integration, how we got there and why it is important. Thereafter it explores the constitutional framework for understanding EU law in context and by discussing inter alia, division of competences, accountability, legitimacy, enforcement, human rights, participation rights and so on as well as the general principles of the EU and citizenship rights. Subsequently the textbook explores the essentials of the internal market as well as the principles of competition law. It also discusses free movement rights and links to the growing “Area of Freedom, Security and Justice”. Finally the textbook offers fresh insights on the external dimension of EU law and the role of the EU in the world today before concluding with an outlook on the future of EU law including the consequences of events such as Brexit.