Models of Communicative Cosmopolitanism: Arendt, Habermas and Benhabib

• In Event: In Search of the Concrete Universal: Evaluating Benhabib’s Theoretical Vision

Abstract

Since 1945 political theorists have increasingly sought to escape the methodological container of the nation-state. Since public spheres have always crossed state borders and are increasingly becoming transnational, communicative approaches have emerged as a prominent strand of cosmopolitanism. Despite the fact that they share the basic orientation of this “communicative turn,” as representatives of three successive generations, the models presented by Hannah Arendt, Jürgen Habermas and Seyla Benhabib also differ from each other in important ways. While Arendt seeks to recover politics on a smaller scale via a council system, Habermas argues for the creation of a “postnational constellation” based on continental regimes. As the youngest of the three, Benhabib seeks to reconcile the insights of her predecessors by mediating between the “concrete” and “generalized other.” She argues for a contextual universalism that encourages local actors to translate international norms of human rights into local discourses.

Author

• Peter J. Verovšek, University of Sheffield