Illusion of the Peoples

Omar Dahbour is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Hunter College, CUNY. He coedited The Nationalism Reader (with Micheline Ishay, 1995).

• Chapter 1 Introduction: Nationalism as Belief and as DoctrineChapter 2 National Identity and Political AutonomyChapter 3 Peoples and Nations in International LawChapter 4 Cultural Rights and the Ethics of Self-DeterminationChapter 5 Consent Theory and Democratic Self-DeterminationChapter 6 The Nation-State as an Ethical CommunityChapter 7 The Contradictions of Liberal NationalismChapter 8 Conclusion: Self-Determination Without Nationalism

An important and persuasive study of the highly influential doctrine of national self-determination. Dahbour subjects claims that groups have a right to a state of their own to lucid philosophical examination, and gives the concept of nationalism the moral scrutiny it deserves.