Abstract
This essay aims to explore the scope and limits of cosmopolitan citizenship, the most ambitious of the various conceptions of new citizenship which try to reconstruct the traditional concept of citizenship which has been closely connected with that of nationality. This conception is an attempt at revitalizing democracy by diversifying citizenship in accordance with the multiplied political decision-making processes under the circumstance that the autonomous competences of nation states are undermined under the pressure of economic globalization, and the state sover-eignty is being diffused both upwards and downwards.
After surveying several important theories on cosmopolitan citizenship, we will review several criticisms against them. Those criticisms are mainly concerned with the preconditions which enable democratic deliberation, and the idea of democratizing transnational institutions. This new conception of citizenship requires both institutional and ethical approaches.
