Communicating Cosmopolitanism and Motivating Global Citizenship
| Published date | 01 August 2018 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032321717726919 |
| Author | John David Cameron |
| Date | 01 August 2018 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0032321717726919
Political Studies
2018, Vol. 66(3) 718 –734
© The Author(s) 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/0032321717726919
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Communicating
Cosmopolitanism and
Motivating Global Citizenship
John David Cameron
Abstract
This article analyses strategies of communication to motivate ordinary individuals to act in accord
with cosmopolitan ethics. The central argument of the article is that research on cosmopolitan
motivation needs to engage much more actively with research in psychology and communications,
which provide significant insights on the effectiveness of strategies that moral philosophers have
proposed to motivate cosmopolitan action. The article critically analyses ‘thick cosmopolitan’
motivation strategies, which highlight the collective culpability of affluent individuals in the global
North for the poverty in the global South as a means to motivate cosmopolitan action. Drawing on
research in psychology, the article argues that the emphasis on culpability can have adverse impacts
at odds with cosmopolitan ethics. The article then proposes alternative communication strategies
for cosmopolitan motivation, drawing again on research in psychology and communications.
Keywords
cosmopolitanism, moral motivation, global citizenship
Accepted: 25 July 2017
There is a wide gap between contemporary theories of global justice and the motivational
strategies that might encourage individuals and societies to act in practical ways that
reflect those principles in everyday life. ‘Cosmopolitanism’ has become the almost uni-
versal banner under which contemporary political philosophers debate the ethical norms
and corresponding legal and institutional arrangements required for human thriving in the
context of global integration. While the specific moral demands and institutional arrange-
ments associated with cosmopolitanism are hotly contested, there is a widespread agree-
ment that human well-being in the twenty-first century requires a global ethic in which all
humans recognize and act on both positive and negative ethical duties towards all other
humans, regardless of their nationality or other aspects of their identity. Climate change,
mass flows of refugees, infectious diseases and financial crises highlight the urgent need
Department of International Development Studies, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada
Corresponding author:
John David Cameron, Department of International Development Studies, Dalhousie University, McCain
Building, Room 3038, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada.
Email: john.cameron@dal.ca
726919PSX0010.1177/0032321717726919Political StudiesCameron
research-article2017
Article
Cameron 719
for the cultivation of cosmopolitan ethics in which all humans recognize and act on moral
duties to other humans outside the boundaries of their respective nation states (Appiah,
2006; Brown and Held, 2010: 1; Kymlicka and Walker, 2012: 2).
However, cosmopolitan theory has only just begun to seriously address the question of
how to motivate individuals to act in accordance with the ethical principles of cosmopoli-
tanism in practical ways in their real lives (Dobson, 2006; Faulkner, 2014, 2016; Lenard,
2010; Linklater, 2007). While the arguments about the depth and extent of the duties owed
across state borders vary widely among cosmopolitan theorists, even the most minimalist
conceptions of cosmopolitan morality require motivational strategies to expand the sphere
of moral action. Cosmopolitan theorists and other moral philosophers who have engaged
with the question of motivation have focused primarily on intrinsic aspects of cosmopolitan
theory, addressing the question of whether ethical principles can plausibly motivate ethical
action (Birnbacher, 2006; Brock and Atkinson, 2008; Lawford-Smith, 2012; Lenard, 2010;
Scheffler, 1992). While questions about the motivational power of ethical principles are
central to moral theory, in this article I argue that it is also crucial for cosmopolitan theorists
to engage more deeply with practical strategies to communicate cosmopolitan ideas to
diverse sectors of the public with the goal of motivating cosmopolitan action. Rigorous
grappling with the question of cosmopolitan motivation requires that cosmopolitan research
move beyond the bounds of political theory to engage with other fields of research that
focus on how to motivate human behavioural change, in particular social psychology and
communications studies. This approach echoes the call by Phillips and Smith (2008: 393) to
extend cosmopolitan research to analyse more closely ‘individual-level cosmopolitanism
among ordinary people’, Beck and Sznaider’s (2006) call for deeper engagement with cos-
mopolitanism across the social sciences and Weinstock’s (2009) efforts to construct a dis-
cursive ‘toolbox’ to motivate cosmopolitan values and action. Such interdisciplinary
engagement may generate some uncomfortable challenges for cosmopolitan theory, but
they are necessary if it is to have any impact on real world human behaviour.
The article develops this argument in three sections. The section ‘Cosmopolitan
Theory and the Question of Motivation’ outlines the basic principles of cosmopolitan eth-
ics and examines the question of motivation and the ways in which it has been addressed
in cosmopolitan theory. In particular, it analyses the concept of ‘thick cosmopolitanism’
as a motivation strategy. ‘Thick cosmopolitanism’ highlights the ways in which privi-
leged citizens and consumers in the global North are implicated in the global production
of poverty and oppression. The proponents of ‘thick cosmopolitanism’ argue that it offers
a more compelling motivation than ‘thin’ forms of cosmopolitanism that seek to motivate
through appeals to identify with a globally common humanity. The section ‘The Problems
with ‘Thick Cosmopolitanism’’ then analyses two key problems with ‘thick cosmopoli-
tan’ strategies of motivation: (1) inattention to the ways in which cosmopolitan ethical
principles are communicated in practice and (2) the reliance on inducing emotions of
guilt, which research in psychology suggests is often ineffective and post-colonial analy-
sis critiques for its tendency to dehumanize those who live in conditions of poverty. The
section ‘Alternative Strategies of Motivation’ examines alternative strategies of motiva-
tion that have emerged from research in psychology and in the applied professional prac-
tices of climate change communication and public engagement with international
development. The article concludes by arguing that cosmopolitan research needs to pay
more attention to these practical initiatives, both as sources of potential inspiration for
strategies of motivation and to ensure that real world efforts to promote ‘global citizen-
ship’ are more closely connected to the principles of cosmopolitan ethics.
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