Militant Cosmopolitics

Militant cosmopolitics explores cosmopolitanism’s radical dynamic as expressed in the struggles from below, all over the world, against exclusion and domination, pointing to the horizon of another world that appears possible. By re-reading the first cosmopolitan stance, that of the Ancient Cynics, the book shows that cosmopolitanism emerges negatively through disaffiliation from the given forms of belonging and by questioning the existing meanings and practices. Through a radical critique, cosmopolitanism goes to the roots of the existing world order based on the nation-state, exposes its exclusionary structure, and reaffirms instead the idea of a World Republic where ‘No One Is Illegal’ and where all are equal citizens of the world. The book captures this radical dynamic in a cluster of novel concepts, such as ‘cosmopolitanism of dissent’, ‘post-foundational cosmopolitanism’, ‘cosmopolitan ontology’, ‘institution of critique’, ‘critique of cosmopolitan desire’, all integrated into an a radical and militant cosmopolitics. Written in a self-critical manner, the book confronts the main criticisms of cosmopolitanism, concomitantly describing the trajectory of elaborating a political theory of cosmopolitanism through a continuous questioning of the advanced concepts.