Liberal Nationalism’s Precarious Prospects

Abstract

Abstract This chapter pays tribute to the concerns that animate Sadurski’s work by examining one of the more intractable sets of reasons why liberty—and liberalism—demand eternal vigilance. The immediate political context of the liberal regime is typically the sovereign nation state. Equally, the immediate political context of the illiberal regime is also the sovereign nation state. This is no coincidence. Liberalism and illiberalism alike identify sovereignty and nationalism as important enabling conditions, and there is sufficient overlap in the manner in which and the consequences with which enabling operates in these ostensibly contrasting regimes that there is inevitable seepage from one to the other. Illiberalism, then, should be considered as the shadow and temptation of liberalism, as much as a reaction against it. The chapter assesses and compares the apparently rising prospects of populist illiberalism today in both Central and Western European states, keeping that close relationship in mind.