In our Cities in a Global Society course, one of the fundamental themes is cosmopolitanism. I introduced the idea early in the course with the article by Mary Kaldor. Cosmopolitanism is an ancient, Stoic ideal of universal human identity–of being a ‘citizen of the world.’ I give credit to the dissident ancient Greeks who coined […]
Yazidis, ISIS, and aggressive cosmopolitanism Read More »
One of the peculiar traits of modern nation-states is that they try to collapse together a variety of things into one, politically-effective bundle: 1. The population is reframed as the ‘body politic,’ which Hobbes portrayed as a literal metaphor in 1651. 2. The spatial territory is considered an integral part of the ‘nation.’ Symbolically, the
The fight over the past: the politics of official history Read More »
In my Cities in a Global Society course, I have been pressing the point that we need to rethink organized political power. The classic English/German worldview is that there is a thing called “the state,” which is separate from “the people.” This is effective rhetoric for elections, especially for candidates who want to portray themselves