The Virtue of Nationalism

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has once again brought to the agenda a discussion about phenomena that, in the opinion of many, are already a thing of the past: nationalism and the value of one’s own nation-state. Since the Second World War and the Nazi crimes, nationalism in the West has been considered a dark past that has no place in a bright globalized future. But is it really nationalism that is to blame for the greatest tragedies of the 20th century?

Yoram Gazoni offers a completely different perspective. Skillfully interweaving past and present, from the time of Moses to the modern conflicts in the Middle East, he presents his own arguments in favor of the fact that it is nationalism and the nation-states it generates that are the best available forms of political order for both individual communities and the international order.