For its proponents, transnational institutions like the EU are champions of cosmopolitanism. But the cosmopolitan ideal, first conceptualised by Immanuel Kant, emerged in parallel with the rise of the nation state. Indeed, national sovereignty was once considered a prerequisite for internationalism.
Looking to the future, Frank Furedi explores the changing meaning of cosmopolitanism for European identity today, and asks how we might find a way to be European, open-minded and outward-looking beyond the borders of the EU.
