New Wine and Old Bottles: International Politics and Ethical DiscourseJean Bethke Elshtain challenges a powerful strand in western political thinking that separates the political and ethical realms. This is manifest above all in the claim that although the rule of justice might pertain between citizens, force is the ultimate arbiter between states and would-be states. But this claim fails to capture the many complex ways that political bodies deal with one another through norms and rules and not simply by force. Elshtain captures this alternative dimension by examining two dominant currents in international politics: sovereignty and nationalism. She shows the ways in which the historic understanding of sovereignty was deeply dependent on theological concepts, and demonstrates that much of contemporary life is marked by the mapping of concepts of sovereignty onto our understanding, not just of states but of persons. Over the years, many experts predicted confidently that the power of nationalism would abate as "rationalism" and "internationalism" spread. Elshtain explains why this prediction was flawed and accounts for the emergence of today's "new nationalism," the political passion of our time. She asks, Knowing the terrible cost of nationalistic excess, is there a defensible version of national identity and loyalty? With the late Sir Isaiah Berlin, Elshtain argues "yes." In her provocative epilogue, Elshtain asks whether there is room for forgiveness in international politics, and concludes on the speculative and hopeful note that ways might be found to break repetitive cycles of vengeance. |
Contents
Reflections on the New Nationalism | 25 |
Comments on Elshtain | 53 |
Forgiveness despite the Pressures of Sovereignty | 72 |
Copyright | |
Common terms and phrases
alternative Augustine Bodin called Cambridge Carl Schmitt century citizens civic order civil society claims complex concept constitutionalism contemporary culture Czech Dallmayr Dame democracy democratic domestic domination Eastern Europe eignty emergence ereignty essay example external force forgiveness Fred Dallmayr G. W. F. Hegel Germans global Hannah Arendt Hegel Hesburgh Lectures historically Hobsbawm's humanitarian intervention Ignatieff imago Dei International Peace Studies international politics international relations Jean Bethke Elshtain John Paul justice Kroc Institute Lech Wałęsa Limits of Politics Lithuania Martha Merritt ment Michael Ignatieff modern moral multiculturalism nation-state national identity nationalist Northern Ireland Orwell perhaps plural political bodies Politics and Ethical Pope principle of sovereignty Raimo Väyrynen recognition reconciliation regime religion Roman law self-determination social sover sovereign sovereignty and nationalism Soviet struggle Sudetenland territorial theology tion tional universal order University Press Václav Havel violence vision Western Wine and Old writes wrongs York