ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the contemporary cosmopolitanism in its various manifestations and, in particular, its relationship with human rights. While accepting that the cosmopolitanization of justice was incomplete, sympathetic commentators believed that it was most complete in Europe because of the growing importance of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in the post-communist era. The ECtHR was opened in 1959 to enforce the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), adopted by the Council of Europe in 1950 and effective from 1953 across the Council's member states. The history of cosmopolitanism has been punctuated by series of key historical moments. It can be traced back to ancient Greece and Rome, the Enlightenment and totalitarianism before resurfacing in the 1990s as 'new cosmopolitanism'. The cosmopolitan tradition could also be found in other classics – including Marx, Weber and Durkheim, for all of whom it was closely tied to the project of uncovering general principles of human development and social structure.
