| This study seeks to develop a conception of engaged cosmopolitanism with a tactical edge—an orientation that appreciates the political and ethical force of traditional cosmopolitan appeals to universal principles while arguing that this universalist orientation is not sufficient in itself. I seek to bring the philosophical underpinning of cosmopolitan thought inspired by Kant into contact with theorists who are inspired by a plurality of moral sources and a different image of thought. The normative concern driving this study is the question of how best to create and sustain cosmopolitan ethical attachments, cultures, histories and political techniques that will both overcome some of the limitations of individual states, and create effective alliances in response to increasingly global problems. Underlying this question is the assumption that intensifying global flows of people, information, products, cultures, pollution, finance and power have changed the position and authority of the territorial state and the nationalism it seeks to mobilize. These global flows have accelerated and exacerbated some of the worst violences and inequalities existing in the world, while also offering new possibilities for solving them. My conviction is that if the ideas and traditions of cosmopolitan politics and ethics are to have a progressive role in responding to these problems, they have to address both the historic exclusions or blindness to difference cosmopolitan thinking has perpetuated, and the changing tactics and alliances that make cross-cultural, trans-state political action possible. |
