The book "Beyond Cosmopolitanism" by Jacques Derrida consists of seven autonomous texts, which deal with concepts and problems that dominate both contemporary political philosophy and the current global socio-political scene: sovereignty, citizenship, democracy and democratic politics, communism and republicanism, hospitality and the right to asylum, undocumented workers, vitality and humanity, human rights, crimes against humanity, new international law and new legal institutions, forgiveness, the death penalty, globalization, actual and potential work, war and peace, etc.
However, all the texts are directly connected through the dominant concept of cosmopolitanism. This is indicated by the title of the book, chosen by Jacques Derrida himself specifically for the Greek edition. Derrida's deconstructive view of cosmopolitanism is twofold: on the one hand, it reaffirms the positive aspects of the cosmopolitan heritage, mainly the Kantian aspect that is closely related to the concept of state-national sovereignty and citizenship; on the other hand, it envisions the overcoming of this cosmopolitanism through the establishment of a new democratic International beyond the nation-state, even beyond the concept of citizenship.
Derrida's texts are accompanied by extensive primary notes that clarify controversial or important words, phrases, concepts, and themes through relevant translated excerpts from his other works.