Nationalism [addendum] | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

Nationalism [addendum]

However it is characterized, nationalism is a phenomenon of central importance in the modern world because it reflects the special moral significance that most people in fact attach to their ties as members of a particular nation. All forms of nationalism share the view that it is right and good for some particular people, or all peoples, to promote a common national identity through appropriate institutions. Contemporary philosophers are increasingly concerned to evaluate the claims of nationalism. Are ties of nationality desirable? Do they generate special obligations among conationals that do not extend to others? Is national identity compatible with the rights of national minorities in a larger nation-state, and duties of global justice that are owed to distant peoples? Is nationalism compatible with standard liberal assumptions concerning the equal worth of all persons, and the impartiality required for justice? If liberalism, nationalism, and global justice come into conflict, which should give way to better accommodate the prior claims of the other? What separates a morality of nationalism from a politics of tribalism?

Such issues have come to the fore in the work of contemporary liberals, communitarians, multiculturalists, and cosmopolitans. They advance rival normative models of nationalism and justice within and without borders.

Nationalism [addendum] article

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