Publisher's Synopsis
In this study nationalism is discussed and evaluated as a normative political doctrine. Two types of nationalism are distinguised: civic and ethnic nationalism. According to civic nationalism, the nation is a community of individual right-holders who are entitled to have their rights protected by their state. According to ethnic nationalism, the nation is an ethnic community, i.e., a community of people who have a culture in common, this culture being defined in terms of a common language, a common ancestry, common traditions, or any combination of these factors.;According to ethnic nationalism, the state should protect and maintain the ethnic community. This, however, does not imply that the rights of the individual members of that community should be protected.;The conclusion of the study is that while ethnic nationalism is untenable as a normative doctrine, a certain form of a civic nationalism can be defended as being consistent with a universalistic theory of human rights.
