Special issue introduction: Post-national formations and cosmopolitanism

Abstract

In the last quarter of the 20th century the study of globalisation was refined in many ways and especially in the direction of conceptualising the connections, entanglements and interdependencies of the global. An array of terms arose to capture these complexities, many containing the suggestion of superseding the nation. The terms ‘post-national’ and ‘cosmopolitan’ are two fields that have come to signify thispossibility. Our contributors engage with the idea of the post-national in a variety of manifestations, focusing on addressing fundamental questions related to the extent and durability of post-national expressions. This collection of articles trace contemporary theoretical debates, and provide empirical material in a variety of contexts using multiple approaches. Collectively, they affirm the relevance of the category of the post-national, and related cosmopolitan outlooks, while charting the mixed, ambivalent, and sometimes reactionary responses to it.