Liberal Ethnic Nationalism, Universality, and Cornish Identity

Abstract

AbstractWithin the liberal paradigm, ethnic nationalism and identity are often conceptualized as ‘exclusive’, lacking the capacity for universal membership (Ipperciel 2007; Kohn 1946; Kymlicka 1995), and is juxtaposed against ‘inclusive’, civic forms of identity. This article problematizes this claim, asking whether civic territorial identities also contain their own forms of exclusion. Using the New Regionalism and the identity politics of contemporary economic development, this article explores civic/ethnic identities in Cornwall in the context of Agnew's (2005) observations about contemporary liberal values. The article finds that, in Cornwall, civic forms of territorial identity that distance themselves from ethnic Cornishness are more exclusive than contemporary ethnic nationalism in the region, introducing economic rather than ethnic exclusions. This raises questions about why ethnic identity can be negatively characterized in regional development discourses and what the effects of this might be.