ABSTRACT
The core ideas Seyla Benhabib articulated in The Rights of Others: Aliens, Residents and Citizens reinforced her broader conceptualization of cosmopolitan federalism. By succinctly presenting the critical principles and tools that undergird the progressive vision, Benhabib's text challenged existing ideas that are dominant in the discipline, such as the sanctity of state borders or redistributive schemes designed to create economic justice among peoples to alleviate immigration pressures. Benhabib argued that the deliberative model can transcend the dichotomy between the liberal emphasis on individual rights and liberties and the democratic emphasis on collective formation and will-formation. Several key propositions contained in the text, such as cosmopolitan federalism, porous borders, and a right to membership can be highlighted as significant contributions to contemporary debate. Benhabib has defended the relevance of a cosmopolitan vision of global civil society despite the emergence in many parts of the world of nationalism, xenophobia, and ethnic, racial or cultural discrimination against the other.
