Civic nationalism, otherwise known asdemocratic nationalism, is a form ofnationalism that adheres to traditional liberal values offreedom,tolerance,equality, andindividual rights, and is not based onethnocentrism.[1][2][3] Civic nationalists often defend the value ofnational identity by saying that individuals need it as a partial shared aspect of their identity (an upper identity) in order to lead meaningful, autonomous lives[4] and thatdemocraticpolities need anational identity to function properly.[5]Liberal nationalism is used in the same sense as 'civic nationalism', butliberal ethnonationalism also exists,[6][7] and "state nationalism" is a branch of civic nationalism, but it can also be illiberal.
Civic nationhood is a political identity built around sharedcitizenship within the state. Thus, a "civic nation" defines itself not by culture but by political institutions and liberal principles, which its citizens pledge to uphold. Membership in the civic nation is open to every person by citizenship, regardless of culture or ethnicity. Those who share these values are considered members of the nation[8] and, in theory, a civic nation or state does not aim to promote one culture over another.[8] German philosopherJürgen Habermas has argued that immigrants to aliberal-democratic state need not assimilate into the host culture but only accept the principles of the country's constitution (constitutional patriotism).[8]
Civic nationalism is frequently contrasted withethnic nationalism. According toDonald Ipperciel, civic nationalism historically was a determining factor in the development of modernconstitutional anddemocratic forms of government, whereas ethnic nationalism has been more associated withauthoritarian rule and evendictatorship.[9] Indeed, the 20th-century revival of civic nationalism played a key role in the ideological war againstracism.[10] However, asUmut Özkırımlı states, "civic" nations can be as intolerant and cruel as the so-called "ethnic" nations, citingFrench Jacobin techniques of persecution that were utilized by20th-century fascists.[11] Some argue civic nationalism inevitably involves an underlying ethnic concept of national belonging because abstract values cannot be related to a specific place.[12]
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Civic nationalism lies within the traditions ofrationalism andliberalism, but as a form of nationalism it is contrasted withethnic nationalism.Ernest Renan is often thought to be an early civic nationalist.[13] PhilosopherHans Kohn was one of the first to differentiate civic nationalism fromethnic nationalism in his 1944 publicationThe Idea of Nationalism: A Study in Its Origins and Background.[14] Membership of the civicnation is considered voluntary, as in Renan's classical definition in "Qu'est-ce qu'une nation?" of the nation as a "daily referendum" characterized by the "will to live together".[15] Some authors criticize that definition used by Renan, based on a "daily referendum", because of the ambiguity of the concept and its idealization. They argue that the arguments used by Renan at the conference "What is a Nation?" are not consistent with his thinking.[16] Civic-national ideals influenced the development ofrepresentative democracy in countries such as theUnited States andFrance (see theUnited States Declaration of Independence of 1776, and theDeclaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789).[17]
TheCorsican nationalist movement organized around theFLNC is giving a civic definition of the Corsican nation ("destiny community") in the continuity ofPasquale Paoli and the ideas of theLumières.
TheScottish National Party[18][19][20] andPlaid Cymru,[20] which advocate independence of their respective nations from the United Kingdom, proclaim themselves to be civic nationalist parties, in which they advocate the independence and popular sovereignty of the people living in their nation's society, not individual ethnic groups.
TheRepublican Left of Catalonia supports a civicCatalan independentism and defends aCatalan Republic based onrepublicanism and civic values within a diverse society.[21]
TheUnion of Cypriots define its ideology asCypriot nationalism,[22] a civic nationalism that focuses on the shared identity ofGreek Cypriots andTurkish Cypriots. It highlights both communities' common culture, heritage and traditions as well as economic, political, and social rights. It also supports the reunification of Cyprus and the end of foreign interference byGreece,Turkey, and theUnited Kingdom.[23]
Moldovan diplomatMihai Gribincea described theParty of Action and Solidarity (PAS) as promoting a "civic Moldovan nation".[24]
OutsideEurope, it has also been used to describe theRepublican Party in the United States during the Civil War Era.[25]
Civic nationalism shares elements of theSwiss concept ofWillensnation [de], which is German for "nation by will", coined byCarl Hilty, understood as shared experience and dedication by citizens.[citation needed]
Former Israeli ministerYael Tamir has argued that the differences between ethnic and civic nationalism are blurred. She posits: "By waving the civic flag, Western democracies pretend to be more peaceful and inclusive than they really are, fostering a self-image that allows them to exonerate themselves, leaving them unprepared to deal with internal conflicts".[26]
The distinction between ethnic and civic nationalism has also been criticized by scholars likeBernard Yack[27] andUmut Özkırımlı.[28] Yack rejects Renan's notion of "voluntary" civic nationality as an illusion, arguing this "misrepresents political reality as surely as the ethnonationalist myths it is designed to combat", going on to state how cultural memories form an inseparable part of every national political identity.[27]
QuotingRogers Brubaker, Özkırımlı argues:
Since all nations lay claim to a unique place in history and to certain boundaries, all national identities are exclusionary. In that sense, all nations are ethnic nations [...] Brubaker elaborates on this, claiming that there are two different ways of mapping culture onto the ethnic-civic distinction. Ethnic nationalism may be interpreted narrowly, as involving an emphasis on descent. In this case, Brubaker argues, there is very little ethnic nationalism around, since on this view an emphasis on common culture has to be coded as a species of civic nationalism. If, however, ethnic nationalism is interpreted broadly, as ethnocultural, while civic nationalism is interpreted narrowly, as involving a cultural conception of citizenship, the problem is the opposite: 'civic nationalism gets defined out of existence, and virtually all nationalisms would be coded as ethnic or cultural'. Even the paradigmatic cases of civic nationalism, France and America, would cease to count as civic nationalism, since they have a crucial cultural component.
— Umut Özkırımlı, Contemporary Debates on Nationalism: A Critical Introduction, pp.24-5
Following Brubaker, John Etherington demonstrates how civic nationalism inevitably involves an underlying ethnic concept of national belonging. Because supposed civic values are abstract, universal and thus open to all, "they cannot be related to a specific place – the national homeland. Thus, any civic conception of the nation is dependent on a prior ethnic conception because of the need to establish who belongs to the nation and its homeland and who does not".[29]
As soon as there emerges a form of civic life, norms and practices of citizenship, a shared political history, and a politically defined way of life, there is a basis for individuals relating to each other as citizens (as opposed to as co-religionists, members of the same ethnic group, of the same gender or sexual orientation, and so on): the distinctively civic relation. This whole conception is sometimes called civic nationalism (or what Jürgen Habermas calls constitutional patriotism).
The dictionary definition ofwhen in Rome, do as the Romans do at Wiktionary