Disciplining Cosmopolitanism

Author: Rao, Rahul

Source: Transnational Legal Theory, Volume 1, Number 3, September 2010 , pp. 393-420(28)

Buy & download fulltext article:

Price: $68.00 plus tax (Refund Policy)

Abstract:

Using recent writing on cosmopolitanism as a springboard, this essay explores the disciplinary grounding of, as well as substantive themes in, the thinking and praxis of contemporary cosmopolitanism. Beginning with David Harvey's view of geography and anthropology as propaedeutic to philosophical enquiry, it is argued that Rawlsian-style contractarian efforts to devise principles of global justice cannot legitimately claim to be universalistic unless they operate not only beneath a veil of ignorance of contracting parties' interests but also with the benefit of substantial empirical knowledge of the lives of subaltern others. The essay then explores the liberatory potentials of the more sophisticated deployments of geographical concepts such as space, place and environment suggested by Harvey, in the context of contemporary struggles for human rights. Taking the view that geography and anthropology can assist with the articulation of cosmopolitan conceptions of justice that could more legitimately claim to be universalistic, the essay argues that the implementation of such claims within the world as it is currently constituted necessitates an engagement with the international state system and the discipline of international relations. In considering the relationship between international relations and cosmopolitanism, it intervenes in a long-running discussion on moral and institutional cosmopolitanism. Gillian Brock's work is discussed as a valuable effort to remedy the relative neglect of institutional cosmopolitanism, but also as unwittingly demonstrating its pitfalls. Notably, despite its attempt to accommodate nationalism, Brock's approach fails to recognise the role that nationalism might play in disciplining institutional cosmopolitanism. It is suggested in conclusion that progressive global politics will be constituted by the dialectical relationship between institutional cosmopolitanism and nationalist contestations thereof.

Document Type: Research article

Publication date: 2010-09-01

More about this publication?

Transnational Legal Theory publishes high-quality theoretical scholarship that addresses transnational dimensions of law and legal dimensions of transnational activity. It explores how transnational forces and ideations affect debates within existing traditions or schools of legal thought. Similarly, the journal debates general theories about law in light of transnational contexts.
It also explores fresh understandings of international and comparative law. The journal has a special interest in the intersections of public international law, private international law and comparative law. Other areas of interest include the interaction of systems or orders along such axes as: constitutional law theory on the reception of various forms of external law by states' legal orders; jurisdictional theory on the external projection of states' legal orders; public law theory on the evolution of regional legal orders; panstate religious normativity; and the theorization of law as global.
Editorial Board
Information for Authors
Subscribe to this Title
Information for Advertisers
Email alerts (Hart books and journals)
Sample Paper
Publisher's Website
ingentaconnect is not responsible for the content or availability of external websites

Disciplining Cosmopolitanism

Buy & download fulltext article:

Tools

Key

Text size:

Useful pages