This paper considers the nature of citizenship found in recent republican cosmopolitan work within political theory. It argues that republican cosmopolitanism, which seeks to recognise the importance of both cosmopolitan and active citizenry within global political communities, offers important insights through which the nature of global citizenship education may be understood. After identifying the central substantive tenets of republican cosmopolitanism, key issues raised by these for citizenship education are discussed. It is suggested that citizenship education can benefit conceptually from understanding and interrogating global issues from a republican cosmopolitan perspective, and that in turn recourse to republican cosmopolitan ideas raises important questions concerning the nature and focus of global aspects of the citizenship curriculum.