Description
Book SynopsisThis is a most timely, intelligent, well-written, and absorbing essay on a central and painful social and political problem of our time.Isaiah Berlin
The major achievement of this remarkable book is a critical theory of nationalism, worked through historical and contemporary examples, explaining the value of national commitments and defining their moral limits. Tamir explores a set of problems that philosophers have been notably reluctant to take on, and leaves us all in her debt.Michael Walzer
In this provocative work, Yael Tamir urges liberals not to surrender the concept of nationalism to conservative, chauvinist, or racist ideologies. In her view, liberalism, with its respect for personal autonomy, reflection, and choice, and nationalism, with its emphasis on belonging, loyalty, and solidarity, are not irreconcilable. Here she offers a new theory, liberal nationalism, which allows each set of values to accommodate the other. Tamir sees nationalism as an affirmation
Trade Review
"As this century staggers to its balkanized end, it is harder than ever to believe, with Mazzini, that liberal principle can be reconciled with nationalism, or that national liberation can ever have liberal results. It is against this brutal historical background that one begins to appreciate the daring of Yael Tamir's enterprise... This is a book of philosophy that illuminates the real world... [An] intelligent and humane work."--Michael Ignatieff, The New Republic "Tamir constructs a philosophical ideal of nationalism, but in leading the reader to questions such as this, she also performs a valuable service for those who try to understand its reality."--Liah Greenfeld, American Political Science Review "One hopes that her argument here will lead liberal states to reexamine their obligations to all citizens of the world, not just those within their borders."--David McCabe, Commonweal "Yael Tamir has made an important theoretical contribution to a crucial debate that should interest anyone trying to come to terms with contemporary politics. It is a mark of her achievement that one finishes the book willing to credit the non-oxymoronic nature of the term 'liberal nationalism' and, thus, to accept the possibility that [one is not forced] to choose between these."--Sanford Levinson, Ethics
Table of Contents
AcknowledgmentsIntroduction31The Idea of the Person132National Choices and the Right to Culture353The Right to National Self-Determination574Particular Narratives and General Claims785The Magic Pronoun "My"956The Hidden Agenda: National Values and Liberal Beliefs1177Making a Virtue Out of Necessity140Notes169Bibliography177Index189
