This study investigates the thinking of European authors from Vitoria to Kant about political justice, the global community, and international hospitality as one special form of interaction among individuals of divergent societies, political communities, and cultures. The argument is presented in an interdisciplinary manner, covering historical material from a philosophical perspective.

Contents: Foreword; Introduction; The present and the past: Iustitia, cosmopolis and hospitalitas: Issues of international ethics and law; Political and cultural contexts: globalization, modern, postmodern and anti-postmodern confusions; Intellectual history: objectivity, methodology and the dialogical approach; Iustitia: moral minimalism and political justice; Cosmopolis: ancient and medieval foundations; Hospitalitas: interaction, commerce and trade; Vitoria and the Second Scholastic: European colonialism and Amerindian rights; Natural law and human rights; Vitoria’s lecture ’On the American Indians’; Vitoria’s law of nations as a theory of political justice; The problem of humanitarian intervention; The right of hospitality; An assessment of Vitoria’s achievement; The Age of Hugo Grotius: Beyond scepticism: a modern theory of natural rights; Justice or consent?; The ’great society of states’ and the law of nations; The ocean as common property and ’the sacrosanct law of hospitality’; The contributions of Francisco Suárez and Alberico Gentili; The Grotian legacy and the origins of modern international law; In the Shadow of Leviathan: Hobbes to Wolff: Hobbes on the state of nature and sovereignty; The domestic analogy; Pufendorf I: the society of states; Pufendorf II: the imperfect right of hos pitality; Wolff: civitas maxima, or the universal commonwealth; Wolff II: international hospitality qualified; Contextualizing theory: state practice and hospitality rights; The Age of Enlightenment: Natural law, history, sociability and commercial society: Pufendorf to Smith; The failure of conquest, agriculture, hospitality and free trade; The attack on and transformation of natural law; La société générale du genre humain: Rousseau on cosmopolitanism, international relations and republican patriotism; The synthesis of natural law and state practice: Vattel and Moser; Kant and the Ius Cosmopoliticum: Revolution and synthesis; Kant’s global commonwe

'This is a fascinating, at times brilliant book...Georg Cavallar demonstrates a command of the wider context of classical international political theory ” classical and modern ” that is pretty much unrivalled in the contemporary literature... remarkable... I doubt if there is anyone working in the field of international political theory today who could not learn a great deal from this book....(it) is packed with stimulating re-readings and fascinating mini-case-studies... a very good book...' History of Political Thought 'Cavallar goes beyond simple intellectual history in his willingness to embrace the sceptical challenge to ethical theorizing. He uses historical scholarship to illumine the recurring character of the thick/thin debate about conceptions of political justice... The Rights of Strangers is a very rich text in which Cavallar combines philosophical and ethical analysis, intellectual history and critical reflection on methodology. It is original in both content and in aim, bringing astute historical and philosophical scholarship to bear on important issues of contemporary concern.' Kantian Review '... articulate and insightful...' Leiden Journal of International Law