Nationalism and Patriotism

Despite his errors and overstatements, Cavanaugh is helpful for thinking through the perils of nations and nationalism in an era when both seem to be enjoying a renaissance. He is best read as a theologian, not a historian, and a polemical theologian whose strident claims are best met with a healthy dose of skepticism.

They agreed. At least on the single issue of foreign trade, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton agreed the United States must retreat from free trade agreements. In the midst of the most polarized presidential election in living memory, both major party candidates converged on the need to reconsider American-led globalization and take a more protectionist stand in foreign markets.

The Palestinian national movement is an illusory empire. Constructed on poetry and prejudice and generations of fantasy, it too must come crashing down so that it can be rebuilt, this time on a more solid basis.

This Sunday, Catalonia will attempt to hold a referendum on independence from Spain. Why is this strange event taking place, and what are the implications for European and international politics?

Suggesting we should shun petty nationalism and encourage the ennobling type offers little foreign policy guidance, whether in Scotland or elsewhere.

Spain is facing one the country’s biggest political crises in decades as the region of Catalonia is planning a vote on secession. Here is what you should know about the issue of Catalonian independence.

The Kurdish independence movement gives the United States a unique opportunity to support a government as it transitions towards democracy and becomes a viable Middle Eastern partner within a region of chaos.

Hopefully, the wisdom of responsible nationalism will prevail against contrived, peevish separatism in Catalonia, Scotland, and elsewhere.

John D. Wilsey’s American Exceptionalism and Civil Religion is a genuinely excellent book, but our national problems may be deeper and more profound—more exceptional—than he realizes.