The Paradoxes of Nationalism

The French Revolution and Its Meaning for Contemporary Nation Building

Chimene I. Keitner

• Publisher: SUNY Press
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9780791480762
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Nationalism & Patriotism
• Index: Politics & International Relations

The Paradoxes of Nationalism explores a critical stage in the development of the principle of national self-determination: the years of the French Revolution, during which the idea of the nation was fused with that of self-government. While scholars and historians routinely cite the French Revolution as the origin of nationalism, they often fail to examine the implications of this connection. Chimène I. Keitner corrects this omission by drawing on history and political theory to deepen our understanding of the historical and normative underpinnings of national self-determination as a basis for international political order. Based on this analysis, Keitner constructs a framework for evaluating nation-based claims in contemporary world politics and identifies persistent theoretical and practical tensions that must be taken into account in contemplating proposals for "civic nationalism" and alternative, nonnational models.

Table of contents

• THE PARADOXES OF NATIONALISM
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Prologue
• 1. Conception: How to Imagine a Preexisting,Voluntarist Nation
• 2. Constitution: How to Give the Nation a Political Voice
• 3. Composition: How to Define Insiders and Outsiders
• 4. Confrontation: How to Interact with Other Political Units
• 5. Synthesis
• 6. Epilogue—Confrontation Revisited
• Conclusions
• Appendix
• Notes
• Selected Bibliography
• Index