Nationalism and Patriotism

Winston Churchill famously stated that Russia “is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” While reading Fyodor Dostoevsky’s…

Over 180 years ago, a 28-year-old Abraham Lincoln reflected on the dangers facing the United States in his Young Man’s…

The fundamental issues in Senator Josh Hawley’s ending keynote address were, first, according to him, the leadership class is ignoring…

There were two notable conferences in DC this past week: the second annual Ministerial on International Religious Freedom, hosted by…

I welcome the effort to give nationalism more depth because one of the more maddening features of political debate over the past few years is the difficulty in nailing down what exactly the nationalist side believes. In that spirit, I have some questions for the advocates of National Conservatism.

Prime Minister Modi’s apparent disdain for human rights and religious freedom is casting dark and ominous shadows across India’s otherwise promising future.

Nationalism is on the rise worldwide with nationalist-oriented leaders taking the helm in some of the largest countries.  Some call them “authoritarians,” others “populists.” 

Is it morally legitimate or acceptable for a nation-state to deny membership in the group, meaning voting and other political rights, to outsiders? At the end of the day, the moral question of the legitimacy of nations is about the politics of immigration.

If we follow scripture as understood by Hazony, perhaps then we face his “either nation or empire” mentality. From other Christian perspectives, an appeal could be made to the varying levels of political organization available to polities over time, ranging from the city to the nation-state, to regional federations, and so on. Hazony’s account, however, allows no such appeal.