Is There a Core National Doctrine?
In: Nations and nationalism: journal of the Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism, Band 7, Heft 2, S. 155-174
ISSN: 1354-5078
National doctrines are notoriously diverse, & often embody contradictory political values & criteria for membership. This article asks whether there is a "core" national doctrine that connects republican, cultural, ethnic, & liberal concepts of nationality. It considers two attractive candidates: one locating the core in a doctrine about the political & psychological significance of prepolitical cultural identities; & the other in the constitutional principle of popular sovereignty. After assessing the limitations of both, I sketch a different core national doctrine, one that is constitutive & geopolitical, not constitutional or cultural. It has deep roots in the security concerns specific to the modern, pluralistic system of sovereign states, & prescribes in general terms the form that any community should take in order to survive or distinguish itself in that system. It says very little about the appropriate basis for such communities; the choice of political, cultural, ethnic, or even racial criteria is left wide open. More than other versions, this core is able to identify the common ground between cultural, constitutional, & other national doctrines. It also puts a sharp focus on the reasons why, historically, national & liberal values have been so hard to combine. 30 References. Adapted from the source document.