Cosmopolitan Political Thought Method, Practice, Discipline

Cosmopolitan Political Thoughtis a normative argument for applying the idea of cosmopolitanism to the discipline of political theory itself. It is inspired by two recent turns in political thought: the emergence of a normative interest in the idea of cosmopolitanism and a new paradigmatic framework called "comparative political theory." The first phenomenon is driven by a recovery of ancient Stoic and Greek claims about the kosmou polites or "world citizen." The second, related, turn comes from a recognition of the relationship between traditional political theory and non-Western political ideas. Godrej argues that both of these movements suffer from important epistomological gaps. In order to be genuinely cosmopolitian, she states, political theory must not only be more conscious of the thinkers, texts, and concepts that it studies, but it must also approach these texts and concepts through the eyes of those who live and experience them. The result will be a serious challenge to our accepted solutions to political life, and a re-envisioning of our self-understanding and task as political theorists.

Farah Godrej is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of California-Riverside.