The Ethics of Nationalism

The Academy co-sponsored a conference at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, that invited philosophers and political scientists to examine what was driving the global resurgence of nationalism and to discuss how the conflicts it engenders can be resolved. An enhanced understanding of nationalism is crucial to the formulation of American foreign policy in the post-Cold War era. The bulk of the literature, at the time, on nationalism tended to focus on descriptive and prescriptive themes and issues of policy. This collection, however, focused on the deeper moral issues that must be addressed if a policy prescription is to be well-grounded.