Security Cosmopolitanism and Global Governance

Abstract

Any collective effort to address the globalisation of insecurity requires a new theory of how insecurity arises and proliferates, which in turn should influence the design of new systems of prevention, justice, and global governance designed to mitigate grave insecurities and violations of rights. This chapter connects a distinctive analytical and normative approach, informed by cosmopolitan theory, to a broad account of how global security should be governed and reformed. Analytically, Security Cosmopolitanism argues that serious insecurities – whether they be around armed conflict, proliferation, climate change, environmental degradation, human rights violations, human displacement, or terrorism – are less the product of specific actors or events than systems and processes. Given their complex and often anonymous nature, this challenges efforts to attribute responsibility and organise coordinated collective responses. Normatively, Security Cosmopolitanism argues that every state, community, and person has an equal right to security and sets out a global ethics that is committed to deep human security and the repair and preservation of global ecosystems, that considers the global and future consequences of security actions, and that assumes a profound responsibility for the security of future generations. The chapter concludes by setting out cosmopolitan ends and practices for a more integrated, holistic, and just system of global security governance.