Debating Cosmopolitics

Just because democratic values and processes exist within countries doesn't necessarily lead to global democracy. Cosmopolitics, in the formulation of Archibugi (director, Italian National Research Council), argues for the principles of the rule of law and of democracy to be instituted at a national level. He presents 14 papers (six of which originally appeared in the New Left Review ) that agree on that basic premise but disagree on the exact form it should take. Among the topics are a critique of currently existing cosmopolitanism (in the form of the United Nations and other organizations), the impact of the global order on the possibilities for genuine democracy in developing countries, a critique of the Imperial Presidency, and the role of the global justice movement in promoting cosmopolitan democracy. Annotation c2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Daniele Archibugi is a director at the Italian National Research Council. He is the author of, among other works, Cosmopolitan Democracy: An Agenda for a New World Order and Global Democracy, a special issue of Peace Review.

Robin Blackburn teaches at the New School in New York and the University of Essex in the UK. He is the author of many books, including The Making of New World Slavery, The Overthrow of Colonial Slavery, Age Shock, Banking on Death, and The American Crucible.

Timothy Brennan is professor of comparative literature, cultural studies, and English at the University of Minnesota. His books include At Home in the World: Cosmopolitanism Now and, most recently, Wars of Position: The Cultural Politics of the Left and Right. He writes for a number of journals, including New Left Review and The Nation.

Richard Falk was Professor of International Law Emeritus at Princeton University and since 2002 is Visiting Professor of Global Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Peter Gowan (1946–2009) taught international relations for many years at London Metropolitan University. He was the author of The Global Gamble and A Calculus of Power, co-editor of The Question of Europe, cofounder of the journal Labour Focus on Eastern Europe, and a longstanding member of the editorial board of New Left Review—who published an interview with Peter Gowan along with an obituary in Sept–Oct 2009.