The Mortality and Morality of Nations

The Mortality and Morality of Nations
Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Total Pages : 385
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781316368756
ISBN-13 : 1316368750
Rating : 4/5 (56 Downloads)

Book Synopsis The Mortality and Morality of Nations by : Uriel Abulof

Download or read book The Mortality and Morality of Nations written by Uriel Abulof and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-07-24 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.


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