Publisher's Synopsis
We live in an age where "progressive" intellectuals presuppose that true democracy demands the affirmation of "global values" and the drive toward a world government, a "universal and homogenous state." Intellectuals, journalists, and educators bemoan the effects of "globalization" even as they uncritically endorse cosmopolitanism and dismiss national attachments as parochial and outdated. They confuse thoughtful patriotism - and commitment to the self-governing nation - with the narrowest form of nationalism. In a wonderfully lucid and learned essay, Trevor Shelley recovers a humane liberal tradition, from Montesquieu to Manent, that takes the political seriously and does full justice to the legitimate claims of both universality and particularity. Whether discussing Tocqueville's critique of the pantheistic reveries of democratic man or Pierre Manent's erudite defense of the nation, the political form that provides the indispensable framework for democratic self-government, Shelley thoughtfully illumines the place and limits of globalization in a democratic age. -Daniel J. Mahoney, Augustine Chair in Distinguished Scholarship, Assumption College
