The Cosmopolitan Imagination

This article deals with the importance of cosmopolitanism as a world force in relation to Europeisation and to the wider context of globalization. The author examines the implications for Europe of the process of global social transformation, and in what way a cosmopolitan political project is required. Cosmopolitanism can be considered as an alternative to both, nationalism and globalisation, but for this purpose it should be a critical cosmopolitanism, a cosmopolitanism that is capable of asking questions and empirically testing the hypotheses of cosmopolitanism. Cosmopolitanism today unlike in the past is post-universal and entails the recognition of the existence of a multiplicity of cosmopolitan projects in the world. It is not an exclusively Western project, but can exist anywhere and at anytime. A general working definition of cosmopolitanism should be articulated as an attempt by social sciences aimed at identifying processes of self-transformation that arise from encounters with Others, in the context of global concerns.

 Key words: Cosmopolitanism, cultural diversity, cultural pluralism, globalisation, social restructuring, transnationalism, universalism