Liberal Nationalism

By Yael Tamir

Book Overview

"This 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 of communal and cultural memberships and as a quest for recognition and self-respect. Persuasively she argues that national groups can enjoy these benefits through political arrangements other than the nation-state. While acknowledging that nationalism places members of national minorities at a disadvantage, Tamir offers guidelines for alleviating the problems involved, using examples from currents conflicts in the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

Liberal Nationalism is an impressive attempt to tie together a wide range of issues often kept apart: personal autonomy, cultural membership, political obligations, particularity versus impartiality in moral duties, and global justice. Drawing on material from disparate fields--including political philosophy, ethics, law, and sociology--Tamir brings out important and previously unnoticed interconnections between them, offering a new perspective on the influence of nationalism on modern political philosophy.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 069100174X
• ISBN13: 9780691001746
• Release Date: July 1995
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 206 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Compelling at parts but ultimately misguided

I feel obliged due to the less-than-illuminating customer reviews to say something about this wonderful book. First, there are not that many "big words"--but her discussion of nationalism and/in the liberal welfare state *is* pitched at an academic level (this is, after all, an academic book), in part because what she wants to say draws on many other theorists (like Rawls most memorably, as when she argues that Rawls' principles of justice [esp. distributive justice] cannot be justified without underlying nationalist feelings of togetherness). It is actually quite a short read (the book is not long), and very informative. Tamir argues that nationalist sentiments can animate our commitments to social justice [she even makes a surprising and compelling case that they already DO in modern liberal welfare states in her chapter "A Hidden Agenda"]--and I like the way she argues that this does not stop at state borders. She gives the example of Jews in Israel helping Jews in Ethiopia. This example allows her to claim that "recognizing the binding power of associative obligations [which she claims come with nationalism] increases rather than lessens the scope of our obligations to help others" (100). I don't agree with this book--mainly because I do not consider myself a member of any particular nation, and yet, as a member of the wealthiest nation-state in the world, I see myself as having a strong moral obligation to contribute part of the money I make to poorer people of other nations. But Tamir makes a very strong case to the contrary.

Big words

Excellent book. Important contribution to a pressing debate. Warning: as with many excellent books that make important contributions to pressing debates, it includes many big words. Moderately intellegent readers should still be able to sound them out, with a little perserverence. Also, I found that even the especially difficult words can be found in most dictionaries.

I like big words

I find that big words are sometimes necessary to clearly convey complex ideas. This is an important book, and a significant contribution to the debate on the subject.

...

...I found this book simple and straightforward, as well as an interesting read. Judging by the spelling and grammar errors in the gentleman's own review, perhaps he should stick to "simpler" texts which don't hurt his head. Furthermore, I don't see how being a student of Computer Science or Econonomics would necessarily make him an expert on liberal philosophy or sociology. Tamir's work is thought-provoking and an interesting attempt to reconcile her own nationalistic sentiments with liberalism. Anyone interested in the topic of nationalism should give it a look.