Introduction: Cosmopolitanism and the Need for Re-Imagining Society and Education
Introduction: Cosmopolitanism and the Need for Re-Imagining Society and Education

Summary/Abstract: Modern education has traditionally been formed within and developed in relation to the interests of the nation-state. With the present rise of nationalism and conservatism – with its far-out, right-wing movements in many contemporary nation-states, cosmopolitanism has only limited influence in current politics. If the former ideologies grow stronger, cosmopolitanism may not even have much influence in education, research and in nation-states in the near future. Cosmopolitanism and cosmopolitan studies are, however – at the moment – not restricted by the above-mentioned ideologies in research in many countries, particularly in Western democratic countries. The fact that such studies are not hindered in present times suggests that they can still bring forward a critique of and an alternative to the above-mentioned influential trends in politics. Amongst other things, this critique is expressed by the idea that education should not be used merely as a tool for rendering those concerned loyal and efficacious with regard to particular interests of the nation-state, and to teach them to uncritically submit to the values, norms of action and particular knowledge legitimized within the nation-state, and hence take things as they stand, without necessarily re-imagining them. pp. 7–20

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