Is Liu Xiaobo a Rooted Cosmopolitan? A Critical Examination of his Dissent from a Historical Perspective: Cosmopolitanism and the Legacies of Dissent

This article briefly reviews the evolution of Liu Xiaobo’s political thought from a historical perspective based on his writings. The political significance of his dissent is best understood in relation to the 1989 protests and Charter 08, the two most significant historical events in which Liu Xiaobo was involved. Therefore, this article aims: (1) to provide a historical analysis of Liu Xiaobo’s dissent from the late 1980s to Charter 08; and, (2) to examine the value of seeing his dissent through the lens of “rooted cosmopolitanism” and what this brings to contemporary debates on cosmopolitanism.