Yael Tamir
![Liberal Nationalism Yael Tamir]( "Liberal Nationalism Yael Tamir")
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By: Princeton University Press
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5
Average rating: 4.0 of 5
... 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.
...I found this book simple and straightforward, as well as an interesting read. Judging by the spelling and grammar errors in the gentleman's own review, perhaps he should stick to "simpler" texts which don't hurt his head. Furthermore, I don't see how being a student of Computer Science or Econonomics would necessarily make him an expert on liberal philosophy or sociology. Tamir's work is thought-provoking and an interesting attempt to reconcile her own nationalistic sentiments with liberalism. Anyone interested in the topic of nationalism should give it a look.
Compelling at parts but ultimately misguided 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.
I feel obliged due to the less-than-illuminating customer reviews to say something about this wonderful book. First, there are not that many "big words"--but her discussion of nationalism and/in the liberal welfare state *is* pitched at an academic level (this is, after all, an academic book), in part because what she wants to say draws on many other theorists (like Rawls most memorably, as when she argues that Rawls' principles of justice [esp. distributive justice] cannot be justified without underlying nationalist feelings of togetherness). It is actually quite a short read (the book is not long), and very informative. Tamir argues that nationalist sentiments can animate our commitments to social justice [she even makes a surprising and compelling case that they already DO in modern liberal welfare states in her chapter "A Hidden Agenda"]--and I like the way she argues that this does not stop at state borders. She gives the example of Jews in Israel helping Jews in Ethiopia. This example allows her to claim that "recognizing the binding power of associative obligations [which she claims come with nationalism] increases rather than lessens the scope of our obligations to help others" (100). I don't agree with this book--mainly because I do not consider myself a member of any particular nation, and yet, as a member of the wealthiest nation-state in the world, I see myself as having a strong moral obligation to contribute part of the money I make to poorer people of other nations. But Tamir makes a very strong case to the contrary.
Editorial Review:
This monograph urges liberals not to surrender the concept of nationalism to conservative or racist ideologies. It offers a new theory of liberal nationalism which sees the concept both as an affirmation of communal and cultural memberships and as a quest for recognition and self-respect.
