Motivating Cosmopolitanism and a Responsibility for Others

This paper responds to cosmopolitan deficiencies regarding the ‘motivational question’ by exploring the possibility for a state-based and potentially more politically motivated form of cosmopolitanism. It will reexamine whether a cosmopolitan condition must necessarily derive its normativity from an explicit cosmopolitan moral foundation of ‘humanity’ alone, or, whether it is also possible to locate and consistently promote cosmopolitan motivations that sit between motivated state-interest and a movement toward a cosmopolitan condition. It will be argued that the later is consistent with cosmopolitanism under certain conditions and thus it is possible to envision a form of transitional cosmopolitanism that can both speak of cosmopolitan responsibilities while also generating political motivations often lacking in cosmopolitan appeals to common humanity alone. Moving theory to practice, recent normative and institutional shifts in global health policy will be examined, illustrating a growing recognition by states that national health security, as well as the health of those beyond borders, are intimately linked and co-constituted. By examining this it is possible to locate institutional initiatives that reflect a growing motivation to create cosmopolitan responsibilities for global human health that provide tangible motivations and pathways which can put these shared cosmopolitan responsibilities into practice.