Abstract
Two questions form the backbone of all political thought and practice in history: that of the source of the legitimacy of the state, and that of political collective identity. The answers to the former are, to date, fascism and/or fundamentalism, on the one hand; and democracy, on the other. The answers to the latter are ethnic nationalism and civil nationalism. Civil nationalism is intrinsic to democracy. This explains why the rejection of civil nationalism necessarily leads to fascism and/or fundamentalism, all good intentions notwithstanding. Israel, sadly, is a case in point.
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Notes
- 1.
The question of political collective identity is mostly referred to as the question of nationality. Significantly, the first major scholarly survey was published after WWI (Hayes 1928).
- 2.
(Nozick 1974) .
- 3.
Burgess 1992. I replace “right” with “appointment” since I deem this fitting.
- 4.
- 5.
- 6.
The most popular such account goes to Rousseau (Rousseau 1761, 1987), probably because of his apeal to deep rooted and popular ideas of his times.
- 7.
Says Agassi: the theory of the contract either fully justifies a regime as liberal or it fully condemns it as illiberal. This conflicts with the common recognition that liberalism is a matter of degree. Agassi 2016, abstract.
- 8.
Locke met this difficulty by suggesting that people join the body politic only by explicit consent. (Friend, The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy). This raises problems all of its own, of course. For a concise and illuminating summary of the social contract theory I refer the reader to the excellent review of Celeste Friend in The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Friend traces the philosophical roots of the theory to Plato ’s Crito where “Socrates uses something quite like a social contract argument to explain to Crito why he must remain in prison and accept the death penalty”.
- 9.
For a summarized account of the problem of the social contract theory, the attempts to overcome it, and their insufficiency, see Braybrooke 1976.
- 10.
This is a dilemma within the liberal camp: what is more important, consent, or minimal intervention? The social contract theory opts for the former, Nozick and others for the latter. Nozick argues that as long as the state does not exceed its role as a night-watchman, it requires no consent in order to be legitimate (Nozick 1974). Beyond that, Nozick stipulates, nothing is legitimate, except with the consent of all, no less. This is populism, often viewed as ultra-democratic, though in truth it is anti-democratic. Perhaps with democracy, ultra is anti.
- 11.
This idea is sometimes attributed to Giovanni Sartori: “If understood to the letter a democracy must be a stateless society […]” (Sartori 1987).
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Yiftachel 2006.
- 14.
Ram 2010, pp. 63–67.
- 15.
The principle of the right of nations to self-determination is often referred to as a jus cogens (compelling law) in modern international law. It’s first source is possibly the Atlantic Charter, signed on 14 August 1941, by U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt , and British Prime minister Winston Churchill. An earlier version was articulated already by US President Woodrow Wilson at the wake of WWI.
- 16.
Entitlement, i.e. right, is usually taken to imply at least the minimal obligation on the side of others of refraining from impingement. But what beyond this? This question has haunted natural-right advocates throughout history, starting with the Stoics, through the Protestant Reformation and up to humanists and liberals of present day. The dilemma can be seen in the description of natural right as unalienable; does this also mean unimpingeable? If yes: why, then, do we need to bother? If no: why, then, do we need to bother? (For more see Tuck 1979).
- 17.
For more on the distinction between different types of tribalism see James 2006.
- 18.
“Romantic nationalism (also national romanticism, organic nationalism, identity nationalism) is the form of nationalism in which the state derives its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs.” Wikipedia. The key words being organic and unity in a word: Nazism.
- 19.
Anderson 1983, p. 34.
- 20.
The claim that civil nationalism is also (possibly? Inherently? I do not know) multicultural goes to British political scientist Tariq Modood . This idea is recurrent in both his writings and oral addresses. (Modood 2011). Strangely, and sadly, the literature is almost entirely void of reference to this idea, sympathetic or critical. I have heard Agassi say in many of his lectures, tolerating diversity is good but not good enough: we need to celebrate it (also see Agassi 1985, Chapter 1).
- 21.
De Tocqueville 1988, Book Four, Chapter VII.
- 22.
The traditional title of this idea is the brotherhood of man; the present one is a suggestion for an upgrade by Agassi (Agassi 1991).
- 23.
On questions pertaining to national solidarity see Malesevic 2013.
- 24.
On this issue see Kymlicka 1995.
- 25.
Anderson 1983.
- 26.
One of these is Omar Dahbour who argues that since nationhood is intrinsically illusory, the principle of the right of all nations for self-determination is false. (Dahbour 2003). A counter argument to both is brought forth by James: Nations, he says, are not imagined but Abstract Communities. (James 1996).
- 27.
The realization that the question of legitimacy and the question of sovereignty collapse into one another goes to Gellner. More specifically, Gellner suggested that nationalism is an answer not only to the latter but also, and primarily, to the former. (Gellner 2009).
- 28.
The choice is described, explained and argued for by Agassi in his Liberal Nationalism for Israel, together with the history of its original conception by Herzl, its rejection by Ben Gurion and the consequences of it all (Agass, 2013).
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Yehezkely, C. (2017). Civil Nationalism: The Only Buffer Against Fascism and Fundamentalism. In: Bar-Am, N., Gattei, S. (eds) Encouraging Openness. Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science, vol 325. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57669-5_27
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