On Nationality

Front Cover
Oxford University Press, 1995 - Political Science - 210 pages
Nationalism is a dominating force in contemporary politics, but political philosophers have been markedly reluctant to discuss, let alone endorse, nationalist ideas. In this book, David Miller defends the principle of nationality. He argues that national identities are valid sources of personal identity; that we are justified in recognizing special obligations to our co-nationals; that nations have good grounds for wanting to be politically self-determining; but that recognizing the claims of nationality does not entail suppressing other sources of personal identity, such as ethnicity. Finally, he considers the claim that national identities are dissolving in the late twentieth century. This timely and provocative book offers the most compelling defense to date of nationality from a radical perspective.
 

Contents

1 INTRODUCTION
1
2 NATIONAL IDENTITY
17
3 THE ETHICS OF NATIONALITY
49
4 NATIONAL SELFDETERMINATION
81
5 NATIONALITY AND CULTURAL PLURALISM
119
6 NATIONALITY IN DECLINE?
155
7 CONCLUSION
183
Bibliography
197
Index
207
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About the author (1995)

David Miller is Official Fellow in Social and Political Theory, Nuffield College, Oxford University, and an editor for the Oxford Political Theory series. His other works include Pluralism, Justice, and Equality (edited with Michael Walzer, Oxford, 1995) and Market, State, and Community (1990).