Description
Book SynopsisIn Narratives of Civic Duty, Aram Hur investigates the impulse behind a sense of civic duty in democracies. Why do some citizens feel a responsibility to vote, pay taxes, or take up arms in defense of one''s country? Through comparing democratic societies in East Asia and elsewhere, Hur shows that the sense of obligation to be a good citizenupon which the resilience of a democracy dependsemerges from a force long thought to be detrimental to democracy itself: national attachments.
Nationalism''s illiberal and exclusive tendencies are typically viewed as disruptive to democratic processes, but Hur argues that there is nothing inherently antidemocratic about nationalism. Rather, whether nationalism helps or hinders democracy is shaped by the historicized relationship between a national people and their democratic state. When national stories portray that relationship as one of mutual commitment, nationalism strengthens democracies by motivating widesp
Table of Contents
Part I
1. Duty, against the Odds
2. A National Theory of Civic Duty
Part II
3. National Stories in South Korea and Taiwan
4. Strong Civic Duty in the Name of Nation in South Korea
5. Weak Civic Duty and Fragmented Nation in Taiwan
Part III
6. Stunted Civic Duty in Reunified Germany
7. Nationalism and Civic Duty across the World
8. Civic Challenges to Democracy in East Asia
