FUNDAMENTALISM AND COSMOPOLITANISM IN CONTEMPORARY POLITICS AND GLOBAL TRANSFORMATIONS

Abstract

The article examines fundamentalism and cosmopolitanism as conceptually opposing paradigms that reflect different attitudes toward the perception of the world, social order, and the place of the individual within a globalized space, while also clarifying their distinct approaches to responding to the challenges of globalization.
Fundamentalism in the political context has been found to take the form of conservatism, religious or ethno-national radicalism, and isolationism, and is characterized by an aspiration to preserve or restore the “purity” of national culture, traditions, faith, and identity. The appeal to an idealized image of a “golden past” has been revealed as a reaction to the loss of control, cultural uncertainty, and the destruction of traditional reference points under conditions of global transformations.
Cosmopolitanism offers a model of an open and flexible worldview of an individual capable of functioning within a multicultural environment and perceiving diversity as a social value, which has been substantiated in the study. It has been demonstrated that the cosmopolitan individual combines local identity with a global vision, acting on the basis of universal human rights and global responsibility. The spread of cosmopolitan ideas has been generalized as a consequence of the establishment of liberal-democratic values, economic, political, and cultural integration, the development of digital technologies, and increasing population mobility.
The study outlines that the combination of national identity with global solidarity is possible provided that global ethical imperatives and political decisions are aligned with national priorities and traditional cultural particularities. The cosmopolitan paradigm is grounded in universal human rights, the idea of global responsibility, and collective security, whereas fundamentalist and nationalist approaches are fundamentally based on the protection of national sovereignty, identity, and cultural heritage. It has been projected that achieving a balance between cosmopolitan and fundamentalist approaches will contribute to the formation of societies that are open to the world while simultaneously remaining internally cohesive through traditional values.