The Mortality and Morality of Nations

Standing at the edge of life''s abyss we seek meaningful order. We commonly find this ''symbolic immortality'' In religion civilization state and nation. What happens however when the nation itself appears mortal? The mortality and morality of nation seeks to answer this Question theoretically and empirically. It argues that mortality makes morality and Right makes might; the nation''s sense of a looming abyss informs its quest for a higher moral ground which if reached can bolster its vitality. The book investigates nationalism''s promise of moral immortality and its limitations via three case studies: French Canadians Israeli Jews and Afrikaner. All three have been insecure about the validity of their identity or the viability of their Polity or both. They have sought partial redress in existential self-legitimation: by the nation of the nation and for the nation''s very existence.