Cosmopolitanism, Global Governance Institutions and the Global Citizen

The main purpose of the paper is to study and analyze the concepts of cosmopolitanism and global citizenship within the context of globalization. In the contemporary society, the process of interpenetration of different cultures, supported by the development of the modern technologies, produces the new cultures and traditions that are no more connected to the particular area, country or region. This process is called globalization as it creates the new, globalized society. Cosmopolitanism refers to people that are not closely connected in their culture, religion, values, and beliefs to their motherland. This globalized society is constantly emerging in all the regions of the planet and therefore this structural reformation produces absolutely new social environment. In this frame, the question connected with the creation of the global system of universally accepted human rights arises. This happens since in the globalized society, there is a high necessity in the formation of the legal base that supports rights and freedoms of cosmopolitans. However, the rapid development of cosmopolitanism is not logically followed by the creation of the universal values and rights. Therefore, the process of the human rights globalization will face the series of boundaries. The theme is disputable and complex, therefore, it is of special interest to the contemporary social science, international and global relations, and law.

The world is rapidly changing nowadays. The process of globalization has got to the high level of development in the second half of the 20th century. As it can be seen within the work of Marianna Papastephanou, the processes have highly impacted all spheres of social life with the special influence on the education and culture (Papastephanou, 2005). It was highly supported by the formation of the series of basic international organizations that proclaimed the essential importance of universally accepted values, the international cooperation, and coordinated work within political, economic, social, and cultural spheres. The social beliefs that traditionally associate culture with the concrete geographical location are becoming more and more conditional. Today, people are travelling a lot and the process of constant interaction of people from different regions of the planet produces new, global cultures. However, this process does not produce a strong positive effect as there are weak sides of the process. Therefore, the creation of global citizenship is a process of so-called “contamination” of peoples and their cultures. This term was introduced by Kwane Anthony Appiah and it brightly expressed his vision of the current changes that introduce a destructive effect on the unique cultural background of the world nations (Appiah, 2006). The mixture of different traditions and local beliefs changes the look of the authentic tribes, and the representatives of the particular culture do not associate themselves with their native social environment. The loss of the uniqueness seriously harms the history of the people, their specific traditions, and therefore, their identity.

This is logically followed by the emergence of the new problem that is much deeper than the first one. The process of globalization is currently inevitable and therefore it requires the formation of the new legal, moral, and ethical basis among people. According to Ramesh Thakur (2011), the emergence of the global processes took place just after the creation of the United Nations. Unfortunately, the creation of the United Nations and therefore the global proclamation and support of the human rights are still under the required level of effectiveness (Thakur, 2011). Therefore, the necessity of creation of universally accepted human rights will encounter the series of grave obstacles. The differences between the nations are still great as the real cultural globalization is on extremely low level. Therefore, the development of global citizenship does not meet the requirements of the establishment of the human rights that are effectively implemented, distributed, and protected in all regions of the world.

While in the most economically developed regions cosmopolitanism touches the national cultures skin-deep, the cultures of the developing economies are seriously changed under the pressure of the regional and global leaders, and therefore, they are interchanged with no real values and beliefs. Ulf Hannerz has been deeply researching and analyzing this issue within his work, where he underlined the characteristics of the new world culture and its aftermaths for the cosmopolitans (Hannerz, 1990). The evidences show that people from less developed regions understand globalization as the interchange of goods and hidden smuggling rather than the organization of the cultural interchange and the formation of the new, deep, and rich system of traditions and beliefs.

The serious number of evidences demonstrates the fact that the number of boundaries has to be overcome before the contemporary society will be ready for the implementation of universally accepted human rights. The process of globalization is itself not a strongly bad or absolutely good, thus the series of arguments can be found for both positions. This process highly enriches the world cultures providing a new knowledge about the world around and giving the opportunity to effectively implement the necessary innovations in order to develop and adapt to the contemporary social environment. It represents the new vision on the series of issues. Therefore, people are becoming more global, interconnected, and flexible. The world cultures become richer and more substantial.

From the other side, contemporary cultures are seriously harmed by globalization. A lot of cultures are destroyed and their historical, religious, moral values are forgotten. The mixture of cultures sometimes result in no emergence of something new but just into the process of destruction of the existing system of cultural values and beliefs. The representatives of different cultural groups still give different evaluation to the basic issues such as human rights and freedoms. This presents a serious ethical and moral problem, which is followed with a number of peoples with the specific culture that influences all the spheres of life within the country or a region. In such a way, this makes it impossible to effectively integrate them to the universal human rights system.