著者

越智 敏夫

出版者

日本政治学会

雑誌

日本政治學會年報政治學 (ISSN:05494192)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.62, no.1, pp.1_93-1_112, 2011

---

How and why do nation-states require loyalty from its people? In the discourse of "liberal nationalism", nation building is considered a necessary condition for the construction of liberal democracies. While it is widely believed that the nation-state as a political unit is an important framework underpinning political stability, throughout history one can find many examples of nationalism that has deconstructed democracy. It is for this reason that the actual relationship between nationalism and democracy should be examined. To consider this relationship, in this paper, we will first discuss the moment when loyalty is required of the people, especially the political dynamism surrounding the notion of philanthropy in the United States. Within the concept of philanthropy, the rich and successful seek to support the next generation and new immigrants. However these social ethics are located within efforts of the elite to reduce the national budget dedicated to social welfare. It is here that the state uses the citizen's loyalty for its own benefit. Secondly, we will demystify the discourse of the leftwing nationalists in the US, especially that of Richard Rorty, who emphasizes aspects of the democratic function of American nationalism, but whose theories also rely upon a complicated and subtle form of ethnocentrism. His arguments are seen as problematic when used to support democratic theories, because the people demonstrate loyalty to the state via ethnocentrism.