WHAT UNITES OPPOSITION TO NATIONALISM? DISDAIN FOR INDIVIDUAL DIGNITY

Luke Ford looks at contemporary events through the lens of Liah Greenfeld, a Jewish academic, whose trilogy of works explored the appeal of nationalism as a system that elevated the dignity of the common individual. According to Greenfeld, Nationalism and national identity equates the “people” with the “nation,” a term formerly used to refer to a social hierarchy. By breaking the elite monopoly on dignity, Nationalism made dignity the experience of every member of society. Opposition to nationalism is thus exposed as a move by would-be elites to regain their former monopoly.