SOAS Research Online

Abstract

Cosmopolitanism is a complex, multilevel, and multi-layered phenomenon manifested in a variety of social spheres. A vast body of literature on cosmopolitanism spans multiple disciplines (e.g., sociology, anthropology, political science, philosophy, management), and can be summarized under three distinct perspectives: political, moral, and cultural. Political cosmopolitanism, or cosmopolitics, discusses cosmopolitan democracy and governance that enables world politics to transcend the interests of nation states and confronts global risks such as climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic in a transnationally coordinated manner. The moral perspective seeks to formulate universal or cosmopolitan ethics that could guide the world community and promotes a shared moral commitment to all humanity irrespective of race/ethnicity and citizenship/country of origin. Finally, the cultural perspective focuses on the interactions between the local and the global often manifested in cultural openness, consumption of culturally diverse/foreign artifacts and products, and enjoying and learning from different cultures. Cultural cosmopolitanism also underscores the powerful impact of culturally diverse systems of meaning that can destabilize and change the fabric of nation-state societies and the relations between self, other, and world.