World State
| Published date | 01 December 2014 |
| Date | 01 December 2014 |
| Author | Mathias Albert |
| DOI | 10.1177/0964663914541289 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
World State: Brunkhorst’s
‘Cosmopolitan State’ and
Varieties of Differentiation
Mathias Albert
Bielefeld University, Germany
Abstract
This article discusses Hauke Brunkhorst’s account of cosmopolitan statehood. In order
to demonstrate its novelty in comparison with other diagnoses of world statehood, the
article first sketches out some core ideas on the concept of a world state. This sketch
then serves as the basis in order to more closely recall and assess Brunkhorst’s account
of the evolution of ‘cosmopolitan statehood’. The article then proceeds to argue that
although there is nothing substantially wrong with Brunkhorst’s diagnosis, the hopes he
invests in cosmopolitan statehood are probably too optimistic. This optimism results
from the fact that he buys too deeply into Luhmann’s rather undercomplex account of
functional differentiation in world society. A more nuanced differentiation theoretical
account of contemporary world politics reveals a greater variety of forms than suggested
by the simple juxtaposition between particularist and cosmopolitan forms of statehood.
This also leads to caution against overblown optimism when it comes to the integrative
performance of the latter.
Keywords
Cosmopolitanism, functional differentiation, global governance, World state
Introduction
Some form of world state already exists. It does however not originate in recent pro-
cesses of political globalization but must be seen in the continuity of a long historical
process of the evolution ‘world’ or ‘cosmopolitan’ statehood. This contemporary world
Corresponding author:
Mathias Albert, Faculty of Sociology, Bielefeld University, Postfach 100131, Bielefeld 33501, Germany.
Email: mathias.albert@uni-bielefeld.de
Social & Legal Studies
2014, Vol. 23(4) 517–531
ªThe Author(s) 2014
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DOI: 10.1177/0964663914541289
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