Cosmopolitan Theories of Justice

This chapter provides an exploration of cosmopolitanism and its potential to promote more equitable and just societies. It examines some of the ways in which cosmopolitanism promotes the universal inclusivity of humanity (and, indeed, the non-human), identifying key issues of legal, political, moral and cultural concern within the tradition. In doing so, it also acknowledges the difficulties of enacting a global procedural and distributive justice on the basis of cosmopolitan ideals, noting how persistent racism, speciesm, gender inequalities, and war challenge them. That said, cosmopolitan theories of justice still offer important potentials for reimagining how democratic justice might be considered in terms of its global relevance, particularly in light of progressive efforts of late to decolonise the cosmopolitan tradition.