Cosmopolitanism and the Right to Travel

Abstract Cosmopolitan ideals of universal hospitality celebrate the freedom to cross international borders as a means of forging global connections and creating the conditions for cosmopolitan justice. This chapter discusses the right to travel as a central facet of cosmopolitanism, distinguishing between traveling for short-term periods or “the right to visit” and migration or “the right to reside.” Emphasizing that the right to travel is highly unevenly distributed across the globe, it explores the implications of this global hierarchy for our understanding of cosmopolitanism as a moral framework and way of being in the world. Drawing upon contemporary political thought and recent empirical research, it examines the intersection of travel and “global citizenship” from two dimensions: how cosmopolitan theorists articulate the normative commitments of globally engaged citizens, as well as how “global citizenship” as a lifestyle is marketed and monetized in citizenship markets today.