How should cosmopolitan interests inform institutional reform in global justice?

Sagar Sanyal (The University of Melbourne)

Abstract: A common understanding in the literature is that the cosmopolitan opposes a nationalist position because of its partiality to one sub-group of humans (namely, co-nationals), and urges us instead to care equally for all humans. I explore a distinct cosmopolitan stance that opposes nationalist positions not because they are partial to a sub-group of humanity, but because they fail to consider the justice of institutions from the perspectives of sub-groups other than national groups. On this view, the qualms about nationalist positions in global justice can be usefully compared to the qualms about appeals to national identity in domestic politics. To show that my approach to cosmopolitanism may be useful, I invoke it in relation to specific problems in global justice.