Abstract
I met Patrick in the summer of 2008 in St Andrews at the opening conference of the Journal of International Political Theory, which he and Tony Lang organized: “Thinking (With)Out Borders: International Political Theory in the 21st Century.” The conference, as with succeeding ones, brought together many theorists engaged in making International Relations theory more sophisticated by bringing to it the traditions of Political Theory and Political Philosophy. I will always recall Patrick’s disposition at the conference: welcoming, sincere, critical, cosmopolitan-minded.
It was after that conference that I read Hayden’s (2005) book Cosmopolitan Global Politics. I was, at the time, framing my own book on cosmopolitanism and international politics, and his book was important for me. Its argument concerning the relevance of the philosophy and morality of cosmopolitanism to international relations was exemplary, with its trained focus on the emergence of global governance mechanisms, the pressures of global civil society on national governments, and his rehearsal of the meaning of world citizenship within these processes. Patrick’s book moved very purposefully between moral cosmopolitanism and political ways of implementing this moral engagement. The book confirmed, for me, the disposition that I had met in St Andrews in 2008. I did not agree with Patrick’s interpretation of realism in the book, nor his understanding of state sovereignty as an obstacle to cosmopolitan governance, but his refusal to compromise with duties of global justice made the book’s cosmopolitan political project both morally clear and politically consistent. That clarity and consistency has, I believe, underpinned the way he edited the Journal of International Political Theory over the last 10 years. I am particularly grateful to him for not only his editorial steering of two special issues with which I was concerned, but also for sustaining and promoting the space of academic engagement with Political Theory and International Relations. I was surprised to learn of his early retirement, although I was aware that he was finding the rhythms of UK academic life increasingly incompatible with intellectual life. I should not have been surprised, I suppose: his clarity and consistency had won through again!
Given recent events and the present historical conjuncture, the cosmopolitan political project is to be rethought. Greater focus on the state is necessary, not only as a site of motivation for collective endeavor, but also as the place from which collective political projects are made possible, including global challenges. Patrick’s book ended with an excellent chapter on economic development and environmental justice, critiquing the neoliberal framing of sustainable development. Things have moved more in Patrick’s moral direction since the 2030 Agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals. That said, the political manner in which the imminent threats of climate change are to be equitably addressed requires the coercive mechanisms of states. It would be very interesting to have Patrick’s voice in this urgent academic and non-academic, moral and political debate. May we not need to miss him!
