Liberalism, nationalism, citizenship: essays on the problem of political community

Abstract

Liberals believe that the purpose of politics is to guarantee that individuals do not face unfair impediments in pursuing the lives they choose for themselves. Nationalists believe that the purpose of politics is to ensure that a people's sense of authentic nationhood wins full expression in powers of collective sovereignty or self-rule. Both of these forms of political commitment yield world-transforming political philosophies, but do either of these visions do adequate justice to a philosophically robust ideal of shared citizenship and civic membership? In this text, Beiner engages critically with a wide range of political thinkers and debates in the light of the Aristotelean idea that shared citizenship is an essential calling. Virtually every aspect of contemporary political experience - globalization, international migration, secessionist movements, the policies of multiculturalism - pose urgent challenges to modern citizenship. This examination of the philosophy of citizenship should be useful reading not only for students of politics and political philosophy, but also for all those who rightly sense that these kinds of recent challenges demand an ambitious rethinking of the nature of political community.