However, those who think that cosmopolitan
citizenship is to be found in the development
of a robust global ethic and in the
development of the universal human rights
culture rarely leave the discussion there.
Many participate in and support international
nongovernmental organisations
(INGOs) such as Amnesty International and
Greenpeace in order to promote respect for
cosmopolitan principles in a world of states;
and in an increasingly prominent trend,
many are actively involved or supportive of
efforts to democratise global politics. The
participation of INGOs in United Nations
conferences, and the parallel conferences on
the environment and on women which took
place at Rio de Janeiro and Beijing, are the
most important indicators of this latter trend.
Also important are claims for more democratic
and accountable international organisations
which were among the demands made
in Seattle and Prague to coincide with meetings
of the World Trade Organisation and the
International Monetary Fund. Participants in the development of an international civil
society and those who analyse them frequently
use the idea of cosmopolitan citizenship
to describe their moral commitments
and political engagement (Boli and Thomas,
1999: 39–41, 73–7; Finnemore, 1999: 150;
Dower 2000: 567).