Cosmopolis: Prospects for World Government

by Danilo Zolo

This volume makes a challenging critique of the idea of Cosmopolis - that is, the idea of world or 'global' government. In recent years this idea has been put forward as a way of averting the threat of war and international disorder, and as a way of avoiding the destruction of the planet. Proponents of this idea call for a radical reform of the United Nations which aims to legitimize this institution as an international police force and as a provider of global justice.
Zolo criticizes this new cosmopolitan philosophy and rejects the idea of trying to eliminate international conflict through the use of centralized and superior military force. He seeks instead to develop a conception of international relations which takes account of their pluralistic, dynamic and conflictual nature. This conception moves away from the logic of hierarchical centralization, which so dominates the UN Charter, and towards the logic of 'weak interventionism' and 'weak pacifism' which relies on self-organization, co-ordination and negotiation.
Timely, provocative and iconoclastic, "Cosmopolis" is an important contribution to current debates in politics, international relations and social and political theory.

218 pages, ebook

First published September 15, 1995

Reviews

[Leonardo]

Danilo Zolo, Cosmópolis: Prospects for World Government, es el que expresa con mayor claridad la hipótesis de que el paradigma del proyecto del nuevo orden mundial debe localizarse en la Paz de Viena. Seguimos sus análisis en muchos aspectos.

Imperio Pág.10

[Alex Duque · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una clara exposición sobre los fundamentos filosóficos y políticos que sustentan la articulación de un orden internacional centralizado, tal como se evidencia en organismos como la ONU. Zolo traza una línea que va desde la Santa Alianza hasta la creación de naciones unidas para advertirnos de las consecuencias de confirmar un orden mundial basado en el pacifismo institucional y el cosmopolitismo. Su propuesta es corta y general: un pacifismo débil con un orden mundial complejo y policéntrico, más acordé al modelo Westfaliano de soberanía estatal y de poca injerencia supranacional.

[WSH · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a realistic, engaging, but at times opaque critique of important aspects of cosmopolitanism.