Methodological Cosmopolitanism

Global processes and the attendant growth of interdependencies have propelled a critical engagement with the nation-centric features of mainstream social sciences. Methodological cosmopolitanism (MC) is an important epistemological and conceptual intervention against this methodological nationalism. Tracing the trajectory of MC from its inception to its maturation during the last decade, several interrelated dimensions can be identified: one engages MC on the epistemological level and orbits around a critique of methodological nationalism; the second addresses the relationship of the cosmopolitan to nationalism; the third aspect consists of the iterative construction of an analytical cosmopolitan tool kit. Cosmopolitanization is underwritten by the political and normative salience of human right norms (including the validation of the other) and the growing awareness of shared global risks. Methodological cosmopolitanism thus offers a historically specific and empirically driven challenge to the national presuppositions of the social sciences.