A Critical Political Cosmopolitanism for Conflict De-escalation: The Crimean Example

Abstract

The conflict-prone peninsula of Crimea is again—since its annexation—the theatre of new conflict scenarios. When it comes to understanding the de-escalation and increasing potential of complex hybrid conflicts, theories in international relations are too often trapped in their state-centred perspective. Meanwhile, the role of the individual actor, alone or organised, often remains underestimated as political and moral agent. In this essay, I shed light on a critical yet politically practicable individual-centring notion of cosmopolitanism, which is framed by a set of universal principles and provides alternative insights to conflict de-escalation scenarios in Crimea beyond limiting state-centric paradigms.