A common criticism of the cosmopolitan position in the contemporary debate is that it is unable to accommodate or account for the special and particular relationships and commitments that people have. One reason for this criticism is that some cosmopolitans themselves have generally tended to be dismissive or suspicious of special commitments, sometimes even treating them as instances of moral failure. Or, at any rate, they seem to give this impression. As one leading proponent of the cosmopolitan position, Charles Beitz, acknowledges, “the philosophical weakness most characteristic of cosmopolitan theories … is a failure to take seriously enough the associative relationships that individuals do and almost certainly must develop to live successful and rewarding lives” (Beitz 1999b, p. 291). Adapting T. M. Scanlon's observation “that principles could reasonably be rejected on the grounds that they left no room for valuing other things that are important in our lives” (Scanlon 1999, p. 160), we might say that an account of global justice that does not allow sufficient space for the special ties and commitments that people reasonably find valuable is one which people may reasonably reject.

Patriotism is often presented as one of the important associative ties that individuals do and must develop which cosmopolitan theories do not take seriously enough. For this reason, many critics argue that the cosmopolitan position is an untenable or even an absurd one, given the prominence of patriotism and patriotic commitments in ordinary human life.