ABSTRACT
Nationalism has been a powerful force in modern history. It arouses strong feelings – for some, it is tantamount to racism, but for others, nationalist sentiment creates solidarity and stability, which are preconditions for political freedom. Nationalism is a doctrine invented in Europe at the beginning of the nineteenth century. It pretends to supply criteria for the determination of the unit of population proper to enjoy a government exclusively of its own, for the legitimate exercise of power in the state and for the right organisation of a society of states. Civic nationalism appears an expression of, or at least compatible with, the liberal values of the freedom (autonomy, choice) and the equality (equality of individuals and equality of nations). The concept of the ethnic nationalism – the counterpoint of the civic nationalism – is however more complex than Ignatieff suggests.
