Ulrich Beck. 2003. “Toward a New Critical Theory with a Cosmopolitan Intent,”
Constellations 10: 453-68.
The social policies of the world’s welfare states tend to focus primarily on meeting the needs of
their respective citizenries. Take poverty as an example. World poverty tends to be ignored as
social scientists—and the policy makers whom they advise—take “the nation” as the natural unit
within which poverty is to be addressed. As an alternative to such national myopia, Beck
suggests a cosmopolitan perspective on issues such as social inequality. In effect, his
recommendation is that we rethink the borders of our society from that of the nation to that of a
global society within which all of humanity is responsible for its own welfare.