The Mortality and Morality of Nations

Häftad, Engelska, 2017

AvUriel Abulof

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Standing at the edge of life's abyss, we seek meaningful order. We commonly find this 'symbolic immortality' in religion, civilization, state and nation. What happens, however, when the nation itself appears mortal? The Mortality and Morality of Nations seeks to answer this question, theoretically and empirically. It argues that mortality makes morality, and right makes might; the nation's sense of a looming abyss informs its quest for a higher moral ground, which, if reached, can bolster its vitality. The book investigates nationalism's promise of moral immortality and its limitations via three case studies: French Canadians, Israeli Jews, and Afrikaners. All three have been insecure about the validity of their identity or the viability of their polity, or both. They have sought partial redress in existential self-legitimation: by the nation, of the nation and for the nation's very existence.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2017-03-16
Mått150 x 230 x 26 mm
Vikt580 g
FormatHäftad
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor382
FörlagCambridge University Press
ISBN9781107480865

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Filosofiska discipliner inom Filosofi och religion

Uriel Abulof is an Assistant Professor of Politics at Tel-Aviv University and a senior research fellow at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs/Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination (LISD). He is the author of Living on the Edge: The Existential Uncertainty of Zionism, which won the Bahat Prize, Israel's most prestigious academic book award. Abulof studies political legitimation, nationalism and ethnic conflicts. His articles have appeared in journals such as International Studies Quarterly, International Political Sociology, Nations and Nationalism, The British Journal of Sociology, Ethnic and Racial Studies and International Politics.

Part I. Preface; Part II. Introduction: 1. Theory; 2. Case studies; Part III. Theory: 3. Meaning; 4. Mortality; 5. Morality; 6. Liberty; 7. Language; Part IV. The French Canadians: 8. The Canadiens: the emergence of an endangered ethnie; 9. The French Canadians: the rise and demise of ethno-religionism; 10. The Québécois: the rise and demise of ethnonationalism; Part V. Jews and Zionists: 11. Ontological insecurity: Jewish identity in modernity; 12. Epistemic insecurity: Jewish and Zionist survival in question; 13. Existential threats: Zionism's 'holes in the net'; 14. Existential threads: the lifelines of Zionism; Part VI. The Afrikaners: 15. Ontological insecurity: the birth of the Afrikaner ethnie; 16. Epistemic insecurity: Afrikaner survival in question; 17. Existential threats: Afrikanerdom's 'holes in the net'; 18. Existential threads: the lifelines of Afrikanerdom; 19. The twilight of apartheid and its aftermath.

'Uriel Abulof offers a fascinating exploration of the existential challenges faced by what Milan Kundera has dubbed 'small nations' - ethnonational communities that experience a profound sense of collective fragility. Theoretically ambitious and empirically rich, The Mortality and Morality of Nations delves into the self-understandings of the French Canadians of Québec, the Afrikaners of South Africa, and Israeli Jews to explain how common fears of national demise compel them to seek diverse means to bolster the moral foundations of their nationhood. This lucidly written study makes a unique contribution to our knowledge of politics, morality and security.' Matthew Evangelista, author of Gender, Nationalism, and War: Conflict on the Movie Screen (Cambridge, 2011)