The Mortality and Morality of Nations

Erscheinungsjahr 2015
ISBN: 978-1-107-09707-0
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 384 Seiten, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 773 g

Standing at the edge of life's abyss, we seek meaningful order. We commonly find this 'symbolic immortality' in religion, civilization, state and nation. What happens, however, when the nation itself appears mortal? The Mortality and Morality of Nations seeks to answer this question, theoretically and empirically. It argues that mortality makes morality, and right makes might; the nation's sense of a looming abyss informs its quest for a higher moral ground, which, if reached, can bolster its vitality. The book investigates nationalism's promise of moral immortality and its limitations via three case studies: French Canadians, Israeli Jews, and Afrikaners. All three have been insecure about the validity of their identity or the viability of their polity, or both. They have sought partial redress in existential self-legitimation: by the nation, of the nation and for the nation's very existence.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Abulof, Uriel

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Sozialphilosophie, Politische Philosophie
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Ethik, Moralphilosophie
• Sozialwissenschaften Psychologie Psychologie / Allgemeines & Theorie Psychologie: Allgemeines
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Theorie, Politische Philosophie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Part I. Preface; Part II. Introduction: 1. Theory; 2. Case studies; Part III. Theory: 3. Meaning; 4. Mortality; 5. Morality; 6. Liberty; 7. Language; Part IV. The French Canadians: 8. The Canadiens: the emergence of an endangered ethnie; 9. The French Canadians: the rise and demise of ethno-religionism; 10. The Québécois: the rise and demise of ethnonationalism; Part V. Jews and Zionists: 11. Ontological insecurity: Jewish identity in modernity; 12. Epistemic insecurity: Jewish and Zionist survival in question; 13. Existential threats: Zionism's 'holes in the net'; 14. Existential threads: the lifelines of Zionism; Part VI. The Afrikaners: 15. Ontological insecurity: the birth of the Afrikaner ethnie; 16. Epistemic insecurity: Afrikaner survival in question; 17. Existential threats: Afrikanerdom's 'holes in the net'; 18. Existential threads: the lifelines of Afrikanerdom; 19. The twilight of apartheid and its aftermath.

Über Autor(innen)

Abulof, Uriel
Uriel Abulof is an Associate Professor of Politics at Tel-Aviv University and an LISD senior research fellow at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School. He is the author of Living on the Edge: The Existential Uncertainty of Zionism, which won the Bahat Prize, Israel's most prestigious academic book award, and the co-editor of Self-Determination: A Double-Edged Concept. Abulof studies political legitimation, nationalism and ethnic conflicts. His articles have appeared in journals such as International Studies Quarterly, International Political Sociology, Nations and Nationalism, British Journal of Sociology, European Journal of International Relations, Ethnic and Racial Studies and International Politics.