On Nationality (Oxford Political Theory)

By David Miller

Book Overview

Nationalism is a dominating force in contemporary politics, but political philosophers have been markedly reluctant to discuss, let alone endorse, nationalist ideas. In this book, David Miller defends the principle of nationality. He argues that national identities are valid sources of personal identity; that we are justified in recognizing special obligations to our co-nationals; that nations have good grounds for wanting to be politically self-determining; but that recognizing the claims of nationality does not entail suppressing other sources of personal identity, such as ethnicity. Finally, he considers the claim that national identities are dissolving in the late twentieth century. This timely and provocative book offers the most compelling defense to date of nationality from a radical perspective.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0198280475
• ISBN13: 9780198280477
• Release Date: November 1995
• Publisher: OUP Oxford
• Length: 220 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

good philosophical discussion of nationality

This book contains a good discussion of nationality and its consequences for our daily lives. Miller discusses different philosophical positions on nationality, namely ethical universalism vs. ethical particularism and conservative nationalism vs. liberal nationalism. He believes that nationality can serve many constructive purposes, including keeping us together as an (imagined) community plus giving a basis for trust within a state. Miller recognizes the problems inherent in nationality - for instance the never-ending problems of supporting national self-determination as a doctrine - although he claims that nationality and nationalism are not equivalent. He argues that we should make nationality as non-ethnic as possible to include all members of the nation.Miller does falter when it comes to the ethics of nationality in international relations, claiming that we should sponsor a 'friendly rivalry' between nations and help other nations help themselves without realizing how such a position can lead towards violating his belief in the inherent right for all nations to exist. At the end of the book he also supports the right of a state to offer protection to its national culture to prevent the McDonaldization of the world's cultures, something that can end up being quite illiberal in response to something many authors (like Anthony Smith) believe has been blown out of proportion. Nonetheless this book is quite generally quite convicing and is thus valuable reading for students of political theory and nationalism alike.