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Liberal Patriotism

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Handbook of Patriotism

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Abstract

The idea of liberal patriotism may sound like a contradiction to some. For some, a love of country all too often grows into an illiberal passion. If liberals are committed to individual freedom and diversity, they should decline to endorse patriotism. As George Kateb (2006, p. 3) puts it, patriotism “typically involves a grave moral error and its source is typically a state of mental confusion.” History is replete with examples of political appeals to patriotism, which have justified dubious wars, violations of liberties, breaches of the rule of law, and racist persecutions of minorities. Liberals may be better off, therefore, without patriotism.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Race Discrimination Commissioner, Australian Human Rights Commission, Sydney, Australia

    Tim Soutphommasane

  2. Adjunct Professor, School of Social Sciences and Psychology, Western Sydney University, Sydney, Australia

    Tim Soutphommasane

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  1. Tim Soutphommasane
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Correspondence to Tim Soutphommasane .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Educational Research Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Mitja Sardoc

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Soutphommasane, T. (2017). Liberal Patriotism. In: Sardoc, M. (eds) Handbook of Patriotism. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30534-9_44-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30534-9_44-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-30534-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-30534-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Religion and PhilosophyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities

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