ABSTRACT
Can cosmopolitanism be taught? Social and political theory concerned with supporting cosmopolitanism – whether as ‘ironic distance from the self’ (Turner, 2002) or a world government (Archibugi and Held, 1995) – certainly assumes that it can be fostered. Precisely how remains neglected. Even as the questions about the possibility of teaching cosmopolitanism and the kinds of methods required for the task remain unanswered there is no shortage of programmes that purport to do exactly that. The last decade has seen a phenomenal rise in the number and range of programmes that support inter-civilization dialogue as a way to teach cosmopolitanism. The most prominent among them is the UN’s Dialogue of Civilizations. Islam and Muslim societies have been singled out for great attention and over the last decade there has been a wild proliferation of programmes that focus on a ‘dialogue’ between Muslim ‘civilization’ and the rest. It is of course, almost impossible to assess the success of these programmes. While many individuals do benefit, learn and perhaps also change their actions as a result of these programme, it remains important to ask two fundamental questions. What are the contours of changes that can be expected as a consequence of participation in these programmes? And more critically, what does a dialogue across civilizations actually mean?
