Migration, Protest Movements and the Politics of Resistance: A Radical Political Philosophy of Cosmopolitanism by Tamara Caraus & Elena Paris

Author:Tamara Caraus & Elena Paris [Caraus, Tamara & Paris, Elena]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781138612785
Google: b1liuQEACAAJ
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Goodreads: 40831066
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2018-10-09T00:00:00+00:00

Realizing Cosmopolitan Aims: Avant-Garde Political Agency

When faced with the pressing question of what to do in such less than ideal circumstances, cosmopolitans argue for reform of global governance in virtue of democratic values. Indeed, this is the constructive cosmopolitan project that Archibugi celebrates over theories that solely aim for criticism. As he writes that it “is not enough to be against what is happening; it is also necessary to propose workable solutions” (Archibugi 2002:37). The vast cosmopolitan literature, nevertheless, is lacking in how to achieve this reform. As cosmopolitans also recognize, theories have so far been concerned with designing ideal political structures and addressing issues of feasibility (Archibugi and Held 2011:436; Ingram 2013:22). The aim is to show that the ideals are desirable and in principle achievable. Questions of political agency, who can act and how they should act, are rarely addressed.

In a one-of-a-kind article, Archibugi and Held aim to overcome this lack and provide an investigation of policy areas for reform as well as agents that are likely to initiate change (2011). Rather than providing a single blueprint that could guide an immediate transition to democratic global governance, Archibugi and Held conjecture a gradual transformation through both top-down and bottom-up pressures facilitated by a variety of actors. The policy areas are numerous, including the state’s conduct of foreign policy and treatment of citizens and aliens, activities of international organization, scope and effectiveness of global judicial authorities, citizens’ participation in global politics, and deliberative communities without boundaries. Though not explicitly named in the list, refugee protection in Europe cuts across many of these domains. In identifying agents who are likely to engage in action, Archibugi and Held “take into account their resources, the channels they have available to access and shape world politics, and the motivation they may have in acting in selected domains” (2011:449). Moreover, they recognize that “each of these actors is likely to pursue its own agenda and may be interested in only a few of the components in the cosmopolitan democracy project” (2011:437). These include the dispossessed, migrants, global stakeholders and global civil society, global political parties, trade unions and labour movements and multinational corporations.

Archibugi and Held repeatedly state that they do not propose a fixed final set of goals and stress the importance of flexibility in their understanding of how change can be achieved (Archibugi and Held 2011:455). The list of policy areas and agents of change is tentative, open to discussion, and likely to be modified in the face of new circumstances, such as the arrival of refugees in European territory. Still, the general scheme for change is set. First, feasible political structures are theorized that conform to democratic ideals. Then, political action is oriented towards achieving these aims. The existing actors who navigate in relevant domains keep in their vision cosmopolitan ideals and work accordingly towards transformation of global governance. For Held, these agents are those who hold the necessary political judgement for change and provide a model for others (Held 1995:232). In this sense, they are what Lea Ypi calls cosmopolitan avant-garde.

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