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150225

Close strangers

pp. 109-125

Abstract

Nationalism is normally directed against closest neighbors. This simple fact -- The Hated Neighbor Truism -- has important consequences, mostly overlooked in moral debates on nationalism. First, it undercuts the defense of nationalism based on the (alleged) moral worth of proximity: since nationalists hate closest neighbors, they cannot consistently rely upon such defense. Second, it blocks the usual theoretical contrast of nationalism with cosmopolitanism: the main enemies of the nationalist are not indiscriminate cosmopolitans, but the neighbor-lovers, call them "macro-regionalists". Finally, it suggests that the proper response to nationalism is a graded, region-sensitive moderate cosmopolitanism.

Publication details

Published in:

(1999) Studies in East European Thought 51 (2).

Pages: 109-125

DOI: 10.1023/A:1008664319975

Full citation:

(1999) „Close strangers“. Studies in East European Thought 51 (2), 109–125.