The perils of global citizenship

The notion of global citizenship has been with us since around 450 BC when Socrates claimed that his country of origin was 'the world'. About 100 years later Diogenes the Cynic made a similar declaration as a 'citizen of the world'. These sentiments were echoed in the second century AD when Marcus Aurelius issued his famous declaration, 'my city and country so far as I am Antonius is Rome; but so far as I am a man, it is the world'. More recently, in response to an article by Richard Rorty extolling the virtues of 'national pride' and 'a sense of shared national unity', Martha Nussbaum has likewise declared herself to be a 'citizen of the world'. Despite this long history of claims to global or world citizenship, it is argued here that the notion is not only problematic but also undesirable.