Citizenship, Human Rights and Identity: Prospects of a Liberal Cosmopolitan Order.

• Author: Peters, Michael A.
• Position: OUTSTANDING TITLES - Book review

This book focuses on the notion of citizenship in relation to the notions of human rights, identity and culture. It poses the question of the prospects of a liberal cosmopolitan order dealing with a number of interrelated themes: ethics, emancipation and what Derrida calls the "new humanities;" identity, war and crimes against humanity; citizenship, and education rights within a knowledge economy; colonization, development and peace; changing notions of democracy within an information society; and culture, difference and otherness. These are the themes that make problematic aspects of the liberal cosmopolitan order. One of the main tropes connecting these themes is how the primary liberal values of freedom, emancipation and equality work out in a globalized world. The interrelationship of these values are problematized in different settings as they relate to issues of global world order with a focus on the adaptability of the liberal framework of values and law in creating a genuine cosmopolitan order.

Michael Peters' book lies within the tradition of committed political philosophy: That which not only wants to understand but also to educate and provide solutions. The issues at stake in this collection of essays are those we are all confronted with on our planet today: How do we ensure freedom, emancipation and equality for all people in a genuine cosmopolitan order? Michael Peters is a true scholar; he addresses this question in the mode of critique with reference to the classic tradition from Hobbes to Kant of course but also and mainly to the modern debate from Foucault to Agamben. Michael Peters is also well informed about what goes on in the world to day: He takes into account and reflects upon the newest developments of the world order such as for example the Iraqi war, the financial and Eurozone crises, the challenges of the European Union, the events in Syria. He discusses neo-conservatism, postmodern terror and the globalization of violence. He analyses the consequences and possibilities of the reconstitution of global public spaces in the digitized society through internet. Thus, a very important an interesting book for all of us who try to understand and act upon our contemporary world; a great book which deals with the necessity to respect cultural difference, to redefine development, to reconsider international politics and to rethink education.

Dominique Bouchet, University of Southern Denmark

For readers engaged in local situations that are intensely linked to international constellations; who interact with students about whose cultures they know little; and struggle to understand these many different conditions of possibility without, on a day to day basis, connecting educational experiences to the global politics impacting on their practice and theory, this book unfurls significant horizons. Peters engages with a range of positions regarding citizenship, human rights, identity and cultural exchange, cosmopolitanism and postcolonialism, ethics and normative frameworks that affect education in the twenty-first century. The connections he articulates between educational concerns...