Though there is no general mobilisation, NATO and its allies are at war with the Russian Federation. China is poised to invade Taiwan but it may not.

These realities are the unresolved conflicts of the last century’s wars. Fashioned in the West as an ideological struggle between liberal democratic values and autocracy, the global situation appears bleak.

In the midst of these realities, undercurrents of visionary hope continue to emerge.

Cosmopolitanism, engenders a secular concept of difference and diversity willing to engage with other expressions of Truth and its values.

Cosmopolitanism is a stage we must embrace while on a journey towards a more socio-political-spiritual goal of Universalism. A concept redolent of healing, even healing nations.

Cosmopolitanism as a concept

The concept of cosmopolitanism is associated with the idea that all humanity belongs to a single community. It focuses on social relations between global citizens and has a global outlook.

Cosmopolitanism as an ideology has expanded in the 21st Century, is often referred to as cosmopolitanization. Cosmopolitanism advocates global citizenship, cosmopolitan education, and political cosmopolitanism.

Global citizenship is the philosophy that we as human beings are local and global at the same time, global citizens who can establish a lasting peace, decrease social and economic injustices, and promote environmental sustainability.

Educational Cosmopolitanism

Cosmopolitan education projects are an educational framework including peace, human rights, and sustainability. Cosmopolitanism advocates the idea that individuals can regard themselves as citizens of the world without giving up their national or local citizenship. Those who believe in cosmopolitanization believe that education can have an impact both on a local and a global community.

Political Cosmopolitanism

Political cosmopolitanism reflects a commitment to universal standards, human rights, and democratic values and seeks to specify general principles on which the world community could act. As a political agenda, “cosmopolitan democracy” is aimed at globalizing democracy and creating broad avenues of civic participation in decision-making at both regional and global levels.

Cosmopolitanism: a Controversial Ideology?

However, while the developments around cosmopolitanism have been significant, there are multiple underlying issues. The ideology has divided people into primary identities and reinforced existing subcultures. Arguably it has also overlooked the more complex interplay between identities and their environments and has failed to incorporate an awareness and appreciation of diversity in modes of thought and ways of life.

Some cosmopolitanists argue that individuals should thrive not beside each other but with each other celebrating one another’s cultures and diversity. Thus for example, the multiculturalism associated with the Blairite educational reforms that could be regarded as having resulted in more segregated faith schools, would run counter to mainstream cosmopolitanism.

And yet there are those that would argue conversely for a “melting pot” integrationalist approach. This too would run counter to cosmopolitanism. Cosmopolitanists argue that you should respect the differences but live together. Integrationalists might conversely argue that present-day controversy over what constitutes ‘human rights’ results in part from differing religions, social practices and customs and might never be resolved as long as cultural diversity persists.

Conversely multiculturalists might argue that states and their roles remain vital within an international community, and that issues such as individualism and nationalism must also be considered when discussing what the future holds for cosmopolitanism.