The Borders of Cosmopolitanism: the Case of Asylum Seekers

The debate on cosmopolitanism has ancient roots and in the history of though it is constantly revitalised when the intrinsic crisis of a given political system becomes evident. Cosmopolitanism refers thus critically and normatively to the necessity to enlarge the borders of an exclusive political entity, which prevents also the hosting of “foreigners”. On the basis of this background this paper aims at connoting briefly some reasons and arguments of the on-going debate on cosmopolitanism in a global age (Wallace Brown & Held, 2010), where processes of cosmopolitanisation become more evident. For this reason I’ll challenge some constitutional ambivalences of cosmopolitanism in the dialectic of inclusion and exclusion fro m the nation state, taking as an example the condition of asylum seekers and refugees nowadays, where the tension between ‘borders’ – that is universal principles, international norms and domestic legislations - becomes evident.