Conclusion: The Viability of Liberal Nationalism

2020 ◽  
pp. 233-252
Keyword(s):  
Liberal Nationalism

ONCE MORE BEYOND CONSENSUS: THE “TRANSNATIONAL TURN” AND AMERICAN LIBERAL NATIONALISM

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 673-685
Author(s):  
CARL J. GUARNERI
Keyword(s):  
Contemporary History ◽  
Free Markets ◽  
Half Century ◽  
Liberal Nationalism ◽  
Liberal Tradition ◽  
Cultural Transformations ◽  
Reagan Revolution ◽  
American Creed ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Louis Hartz

“It has been our fate as a nation not to have ideologies,” Richard Hofstadter famously wrote, “but to be one.” Defining that “American ideology” or “American creed” obsessed scholars of the consensus era, who celebrated (and occasionally lamented) Americans’ allegiance to a limited liberal vocabulary of rights, freedoms, and markets. The cultural transformations begun in the 1960s seemed to question the very idea of a unitary culture or creed, but some historians responded by exploring alternative ideological founding myths to the liberal consensus. Over the ensuing decades scholars mounted formidable efforts to support republicanism or millennial Christianity as challengers, but liberalism proved a resilient foe. And it seemed to have contemporary history on its side: during the Reagan revolution of the century's final decades the classic liberal combination of scaled-down government and free markets carried the day as Americans’ ideal if not their reality. The Lockean liberal tradition that Louis Hartz described a half-century earlier still appeared the only game in town, although scholars continued to argue over its terms, history, and boundaries.

Dramatizing Chinese Intellectuals of the Republican Era in Face for Mr. Chiang Kai-shek: Encoding Nostalgia in a Comedy of Ideas

2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 281-294
Author(s):  
Yuan Li ◽  
Tim Beaumont
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Assistant Professor ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Liberal Nationalism ◽  
Political Ideas ◽  
Republican Era ◽  
Spoken Drama ◽  
Experimental Theatre ◽  
Chinese Intellectuals ◽  
China Today

Face for Mr. Chiang Kai-shek, one of the most influential Chinese plays to have garnered attention in recent years, serves as a reminder of the importance of campus theatre in the formation and development of modern Chinese spoken drama from the early twentieth century onwards. As an old-fashioned high comedy that features witty dialogues and conveys philosophical and political ideas, it stands in opposition to such other forms of theatre in China today as the extravagant, propagandistic ‘main melody’ plays, as well as the experimental theatre of images. This article argues that the play’s focus on Chinese intellectuals of the Republican era and their ideas encodes nostalgia both in its dramatic content and theatrical form: the former encodes nostalgia for the Republican era through a nuanced representation of Chinese intellectuals of that period, while the latter encodes nostalgia for orthodox spoken drama (huaju) in the form of a comedy of ideas. Yuan Li (first author) is Professor of English in the Faculty of English Language and Culture, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies. She has published extensively on contemporary Chinese and Anglo-Irish drama, theatre, and cinema. Tim Beaumont (corresponding author) is Assistant Professor at the School of Foreign Languages at Shenzhen University. His research is primarily philosophical, and it is currently focused on the relationship between nineteenth-century liberal nationalism and contemporary multiculturalism.

Defending the Case for Liberal Anationalism

2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-118
Author(s):  
Theodora Kostakopoulou
Keyword(s):  
Human Dignity ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
Political Life ◽  
International Terrorism ◽  
Human Welfare ◽  
Liberal Nationalism ◽  
Democratic Communities ◽  
The Way

Nationalism appears to be so entrenched in political life and discourse, that its illiberal face is often deemed to be an exception and unfortunate coincidence triggered by international terrorism. Alternatively, it may be depicted as the result of ill-thought policies which can be reversible. In this paper, I argue that liberal nationalism is conceptually flawed and politically illiberal. Illiberal tendencies are an integral part of it and these cannot be corrected by ‘taming’ unruly nationalism or by articulating ‘benign’ adaptations of it. Because the liberal and illiberal faces are interwoven in complex ways, my suggestion is to look far ahead and beyond it. The territory may be uncharted, but a commitment to a pro-human welfare orientation could open the way for separating liberalism from nationalism and aligning the former with critical democratic politics. The challenge, as I see it, is to articulate a liberal anationalism which by affirming equal human dignity and the importance of non-domination could sustain inclusionary and democratic communities.

scholarly journals Liberal nationalisme og politisk teori

Politik ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Theresa Scavenius
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Collective Responsibility ◽  
Individual Identity ◽  
Theoretical Argument ◽  
Weak Version ◽  
Moral Relevance ◽  
National Responsibility ◽  
Liberal Nationalism ◽  
Innovative Idea

Politically and morally, liberal nationalism is a controversial political theory. Modern political theory tends to argue in favour of a liberal-egalitarian, multi-cultural or cosmopolitan theory. Distinguishing himself from mainstream political theory, David Miller claims the necessity of integrating a national-theoretical argument into political theory. In this paper, I critically examine Miller’s argument. First, I distinguish between a strong and a weak version of the idea that nationality and national fellowship are constitutive of individual identity. Secondly, I discuss Miller’s argument for the moral relevance of national obligations. It is shown that the national aspect of obligations is arbitrarily chosen and does not vindicate a moral relevance of nationality. Finally, the argument for national responsibility is taken into consideration. National responsibility is an innovative idea within modern political theory, i.e. theories of collective responsibility. e strength of the argument of national responsibility is dependent on the assumption that national fellowship is a morally relevant entity. An assumption, however, that is insu ciently justi ed. 

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document