ABSTRACT
The cosmopolitan idea has the potential either to deflate the idea of citizenship or to enhance and extend its demands. Its origins were decidedly deflating in their tendency. In the vocabulary of racial prejudice, 'rootless cosmopolitan' is a term reserved for minorities who are alleged to have contempt for the ties of local citizenship. This chapter considers whether, starting from a cosmopolitan point of view, one can successfully arrive at an account of the obligations of citizenship and whether, starting from the idea of local civic obligation, one can get to a compelling idea of cosmopolitan duty. It discusses the context of an idea of civic obligation, that of republicanism. If ideas of human equality come to be institutionalized in the political cultures and practices of states, they will come to be built into their citizens' expectations, thus becoming reliable, to an extent that would otherwise be impossible.
