Abstract

Contemporary political debate is replete with presentations of nationalism that see it as a reactionary movement with a troubling history and dubious prospect. It is often contrasted with globalism, presented in equally sweeping terms. A closer look at the tensions between nationalism and globalism reveals a far more complex picture, especially when the nineteenth and twentieth century histories of those terms are examined. This paper argues for a more nuanced view of nationalism and its value in societies, a value that depends on the action of metapolitical forces, most especially religion, to save nationalism from violent distortions and globalism from naïve utopianism.