L. T. Hobhouse's idea of a European Federation

Abstract

AbstractThis article discusses L. T. Hobhouse's project for the creation of a new European Federation based on a social‐liberal model of the State without sacrificing the principle of national identity. The nineteenth century, according to Hobhouse, associated the idea of nationality and liberty, and the connection was genuine enough as long as it applied to subject peoples struggling to be free. But that very growth of national consciousness which inspired the struggle for freedom, turned to exclusiveness and imperiousness as soon as it had achieved its end. Nationality has thus turned into an exclusive principle and has become a dominating force in twentieth‐century politics. World War I proved that nationalism was Janus‐faced, promoting first freedom and self‐government, and then international aggression and militarism which are the product of an overstimulation of the sentiment of nationality. For this reason, Hobhouse distinguishes between a negative and a positive meaning of nationality, which he describes as patriotism. Patriotism is a more spontaneous, genuine and deeper feeling of national belonging. It is a part of a ‘sentimental education’ taking place within a national community. This positive conception of patriotism, borrowed from authors such as Thomas Hill Green and Giuseppe Mazzini, is the means by which, as Hobhouse believes, permanent tranquillity may be established in Europe. Using the philosophical idea behind the notion of patriotism, Hobhouse is able to overcome the arguments of the liberal economic cooperation, such as those exposed by Norman Angell, by mixing them with an ethical vision of the community.