Cosmopolitanism Inside Out: International Norms and the Struggle for Civil Rights and Local Justice

Abstract

Examines the ill effects of accepting the cosmopolitan ideal of advanced countries as a basis for asserting group rights. Avenues for redress will be too narrow to relieve harms to developing countries and subjugated groups. Indeed, many of those harms will be wrought by the very group that espouses the cosmopolitan ideal. Placing faith in international forums for human rights may be unwarranted if those bodies do not recognize claims for group uniqueness.

Keywords: cosmopolitanism, international human rights law, group rights