Embedded Cosmopolitanism - (British Academy Monographs) by Toni Erskine (Hardcover)

About the Book

Dr Erskine's 'embedded cosmopolitanism' embraces the perspective of local loyalties, communities and cultures in the theory of why we have duties to 'strangers' and 'enemies' in world politics. Taking examples from the 'war on terror', she examines duties to 'enemies' through norms of non-combatant immunity and the prohibition against torture.

Book Synopsis

In this innovative book, Toni Erskine offers a challenging and original normative approach to some of the most pressing practical concerns in world politics - including the contested nature of the prohibitions against torture and the targeting of civilians in the 'war on terror'.

Erskine's vision of 'embedded cosmopolitanism' responds to the charge that conventional cosmopolitan arguments neglect the profound importance of community and culture, particularity and passion. Bringing together insights from communitarian and feminist political thought, she defends the idea that community membership is morally constitutive - while arguing that the communities that define us are not necessarily territorially bounded and that a moral perspective situated in them need not be parochial.

Erskine employs this framework to explore some of the difficult moral dilemmas thrown up by contemporary warfare. Can universal principles of restraint demanded by conventional laws of war be robustly defended from a position that also acknowledges the moral force of particular ties and loyalties? By highlighting the links that exist even between warring communities, she offers new reasons for giving a positive response - reasons that reconcile claims to local attachments and global obligations.

Embedded Cosmopolitanism provides a powerful account of where we stand in relation to 'strangers' and 'enemies' in a diverse and divided world; and provides a new theoretical framework for addressing the relationship between our moral starting point and the scope of our duties to others.

Review Quotes

Erskine seeks to bring together three disciplinary fields, moral philosophy, political philosophy, and normative IR theory; she does so in a clear and lucid manner throughout, and since hardly any reader will have the expertise in all three of these fields that Erskine possesses, everyone will learn and take something from this book.-- "Christian Schemmel, 'Partiality Against Parochialism?', Global Justice: Theory Practice Rhetoric"

In this wide-ranging and exceptionally fair-minded book, Toni Erskine explores the possibility of a cosmopolitan position that takes account of the 'embeddedness' of moral experience... The debate [between cosmopolitanism and communitarianism] will continue, and will the better for Erskine's fine contribution.-- "Richard Vernon, Ethics & International Affairs"

Theoretically sophisticated and politically informed, combining contemporary work in political and moral philosophy with an immediate concern for with the laws of war and the proper treatment of the 'enemy'. The strength of the book is its clarity and rigour... Erskine's book is rewarding and useful. It will serve as a prompt for further work on these important questions and at the same time encourage close interaction between disciplines... as a first book this text suggests that Erskine will continue to produce rigorous and important work.-- "Joe Hoover, Millennium: Journal of International Studies"

Well-argued and provocative...creative and stimulating...Erskine has made a lasting contribution to this fascinating debate.-- "Georg Cavallar, Kantian Review"

About the Author

Toni Erskine is Professor of International Politics, Aberystwyth University, UK