Robust Nationalism? No Thanks!
In a recent Le Monde Diplomatique, Philip S Golub draws attention to a Samuel P. Huntington article from 1999 entitled Robust Nationalism. Huntington’s paper is a discussion of the nature of conservative politics and policy and it presents the three core aspects of the conservative outlook as being tied to religion, nationalism (“conservatives rank devotion […]
In a recent Le Monde Diplomatique, Philip S Golub draws attention to a Samuel P. Huntington article from 1999 entitled Robust Nationalism. Huntington’s paper is a discussion of the nature of conservative politics and policy and it presents the three core aspects of the conservative outlook as being tied to religion, nationalism (“conservatives rank devotion to country along with devotion to God” and war. In particular war as a natural state of human affairs.
“Conservatism thus views conflict and even violent conflict as an inherent aspect of the human condition.”
I find this a fearful proposition because many believers end up sucked in conservativism because of what they perceive as a link on the basis of a religious common ground. However, the full package contains flag-worship (or nationalistic idolatry) and war-mongery, both of which are incompatible with a Christian outlook. I’ve long held the view that conservativism is incompatible with cosmopolitanism and generating the greatest possible good from globalisation, but it is only in the past 5 years that I have really come to understand how potentially hazardous it is to religious faith.
