THE COMBINATORIAL USE OF STATISM AND COSMOPOLITANISM IN THEORIES OF GLOBAL JUSTICE

In Romanian Journal of Society and Politics.

This paper discusses how to deal with the inadequacies of statism and cosmopolitanism. The paper argues that the inadequacies of statism can be compensated for by the adequacies of cosmopolitanism, and the inadequacies of cosmopolitanism can be compensated for by the adequacies of statism. The crux of the paper is that statism is primarily applicable to institutions while cosmopolitanism is secondarily applicable to institutions, and cosmopolitanism is primarily applicable to individuals while statism is secondarily applicable to individuals. Therefore, simply relying on statism or cosmopolitanism alone will not be sufficient to deal with the subject of global justice. We need a combination of both theories. This alternative approach which combines statism and cosmopolitanism is what the paper refers to as ‘the combinatorial use of statism and cosmopolitanism.’ The paper is divided into three sections. In the first section, the paper reviews some prominent alternative approaches to statism and cosmopolitanism. In the second section, the paper lays the foundation on which the argument for the primary and secondary applicability of statism and cosmopolitanism is built. In the last section, the paper argues for the primary and secondary applicability of statism and cosmopolitanism, and consequently the combinatorial use of statism and cosmopolitanism.

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