Around the world today, nationalism is back鈥攁nd it鈥檚 often deeply troubling. Populist politicians exploit nationalism for authoritarian, chauvinistic, racist, and xenophobic purposes, reinforcing the view that it is fundamentally reactionary and antidemocratic. But Yael (Yuli) Tamir makes a passionate argument for a very different kind of nationalism鈥攐ne that revives its participatory, creative, and egalitarian virtues, answers many of the problems caused by neoliberalism and hyperglobalism, and is essential to democracy at its best. In Why Nationalism, she explains why it is more important than ever for the Left to recognize these positive qualities of nationalism, to reclaim it from right-wing extremists, and to redirect its power to progressive ends. Provocative and hopeful, Why Nationalism is a timely and essential rethinking of a defining feature of our politics.
Yael (Yuli) Tamir is president of Shenkar College of Engineering and Design and adjunct professor at the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford. The author of Liberal Nationalism (91桃色), she is a former Israeli legislator and cabinet minister and a founder of the Israeli peace movement.
"A stimulating reading about nationalism and democracy for both scholars and practitioners interested in contemporary politics."鈥擜lon Helled, Democratization
鈥淚nteresting and provocative. . . . Highly ambitious.鈥濃擩onathan Derbyshire, Financial Times
鈥Why Nationalism is a pungent critique of arid, cosmopolitan neoliberalism, and a clear call to bring back a politics of national solidarity in which we are all in it together.鈥濃擬ichael Ignatieff, President, Central European University, Budapest
鈥淎n important contribution.鈥濃擨an Reifowitz, Daily Kos
鈥淸Tamir] courageously defends moderate and universal nationalist outlooks, [and] masterfully distinguishes between these and the murky populist wave washing over societies worldwide and endangering the Western democratic order. . . . [Why Nationalism] is outstanding.鈥濃擲hlomo Avineri, Haaretz
鈥淔ree-market libertarians and social democrats both have lots to learn from this measured and thoughtful book.鈥濃擠avid Conway, Jewish Chronicle
鈥淭amir elegantly recounts nationalism鈥檚 virtues."鈥擯eter Spiro, Lawfare