Transformation of the Political Theory: Cosmopolitan Citizenship and Democracy

摘要

This paper is concerned with the topic of cosmopolitan citizenship and its relation to democracy. We begin by highlighting the main postulates of Kantian cosmopolitanism, as many theorists Kant contributes an idea of cosmopolitan citizenship linked to the need to establish international political institutions that support citizenship beyond an exclusively moral dimension. We then discuss the issue of the transformation undergone by the nation state in the context of globalization, particularly the loss of sovereignty of the state and the growth of multinational companies, and how these changes have come to set a new scenario for the emergence of international actors and the basis for various citizenship practices in a cosmopolitan dimension. The nature and current reach of cosmopolitan citizenship is explored through two fundamental cases: the European Union, and ecologic citizenship. Finally, we discuss cosmopolitan democracy and which ought to be its characteristics, among which we identify the establishment of supranational political institutions, the consolidation of a global civil society, and the establishment of mechanisms for citizen participation beyond the traditional ones situated in the national sphere.