Study of what constitutes each nation and the consequences that arise from it
Evidence of nations and virtuous circles of consequences
Paperback – March 29, 2024
by Henri TEMPLE, author of the first (and only)
Essay on the concept of “nationism”
472 pages - ISBN : 979-8320709611
Political philosophy is first philosophy (Aristotle). The idea of the city, then of the nation, is its central question.
“Nationism” is the study of what constitutes nations, and the theory that stems from this study to make it the optimal framework for social life. A path opposed to globalism, nationalism, imperialism, and the mystique of the state.
Political philosophy is first philosophy (Aristotle). The idea of the city, then of the nation, is its central question: how to divide, organise, and then manage geographical space and populations? What political, economic, cultural, and social framework will offer peoples and individuals a happy, free, prosperous, and peaceful life? The answer is always nationist.
Nationism is first and foremost the study of what constitutes each nation; and then the theory that stems from this study to make it the optimal framework for social life. A path opposed to globalism, nationalism, imperialism, and the mystique of the state. Rousseau, the Declaration of 1789, and Renan attempted to explain the idea of the nation, but in the end, they gave up on developing a theory: very few authors have tackled the subject without taboos or preconceptions, and even fewer have proposed an organised and solid intellectual construct.
For it is true that while the nation is an essential concept, it is also immense and complex, and it was still largely mysterious when the General Theory of the Nation was published. Henri Temple therefore wanted to clarify and further structure his response, because public opinion is more demanding than ever, due to global developments on all continents: it had become very necessary to update the subject.
In this rapidly and dramatically changing world, would the idea of nationism be overtaken by these developments or, on the contrary, confirmed and reinforced?
In a chain of causes and consequences, the demonstration is unstoppable and brings to light the hidden lies of our human society.
General Theory of the Nation: The Architecture of the World Paperback
by Henri Temple
Paperback - Published 1 February 2014 - L'Harmattan Publishing
490 pages - ISBN : 978-2343016566
What are the reasons behind and the strength of the idea of nationhood? Emotional need, collective consensus, irreplaceable democratic framework, raison d'être of the state and the law, inseparable set of common interests, factor of wealth and social solidarity... Threatened by unprecedented demographic, environmental and economic massification, the 21st century will have to choose a global political architecture. And only nations can be its constituent element.
Unlike nationalism, nationism is not
a political ideology expressed in a specific country.
Henri Temple did not invent the term “nationism”. The term was first used in 1968 by the American sociolinguist Joshua A. Fishman. In Europe, particularly in France, Pierre André Taguieff was the first to attempt to acclimatise the concept, but it was Emmanuel Todd who proposed some avenues for its development.
Aristotle : "Nature does nothing in vain (ἡ φύσις οὐδὲν ποιεῖ μάτην)... Man is by nature a social animal (who lives in a city, in a community). The conditions for civil peace are shared common values. ‘ (Politics III) ’Even if they do not need mutual assistance, men aspire to live together .../... indeed, the city is first and foremost a natural reality, the highest good of man.../...the primary goal of this “living together” is the “happy life”. The city is “the community of good living for families and groups of families with a view to a perfect life”. “Good deeds are what should be set as the goal of the political community, not just living together”. “Family alliances, phratries, all the relationships of living together are the work of friendship”... which is the ‘bond between citizens for the common good of the city’ (friendship = translate as affection and consensus). ‘People come together above all to live well together. What they seek is more than subsistence, it is happiness. The city is the community of happy living.’
Rousseau :
‘... men wandering up until now in the woods.../... [who] slowly draw closer, gather in various groups and finally form in each region a particular nation, united in customs and character’ (J.-J. Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality). (cf. infra: Benda)
American Declaration of Independence 1776:
‘Governments are established among men to secure these rights, and their just power emanates from the consent of the governed.’ (Comp.infra: John Stuart Mill).
French Declaration of Human Rights 1789 (Article III):
‘The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation...’
Friedrich List :
"The power to create wealth is therefore infinitely more important than wealth itself; it guarantees not only what has been acquired, but also the restoration of what has been lost. If this is true of individuals, it is even more true of nations, which cannot live on rent. ‘
Ernest Renan : ’The essence of a nation is that all individuals have many things in common... The nation, like the individual, is the result of a long history of effort, sacrifice and devotion... the Nation, [is the convergence of two things]: "One is in the past, the other in the present. One is the shared possession of a rich legacy of memories; the other is the current consent, the desire to live together, the will to continue to assert the heritage that has been received undivided. [...] A nation is therefore a great solidarity, constituted by the feeling of the sacrifices we have made and those we are willing to make again. [...] A large aggregation of men, sound in mind and warm in heart, [which] creates a moral consciousness called a nation."
John Stuart Mill :
The ‘feeling of nationality’ [implies]: the sovereign right of human beings to seek with whom to associate themselves in Nation, to unite all members of the nationality under the same government [...], this amounts to saying that the question of government should be decided by the governed".
Jean Jaurès :
‘The Nation is the only asset of the poor...
’Any attack on the freedom and integrity of homelands is an attack on civilisation
Julien Benda :
"Any formation of a nation involves two movements: the like unites with the like, then separates from the unlike...
Comp.supra: Rousseau
Marcel Mauss
‘...the nation is a materially and morally integrated society .../... with defined borders, relative moral, mental and cultural unity of the inhabitants who consciously adhere to the State and its laws...
Emmanuel Mounier
’[...] the nation is a more universalising mediation than the family.196 [...] the sense of nation is still a powerful aid against selfishness [...] against the influence of the State and enslavement to cosmopolitan economic interests. From this high place, part of the human balance is regulated [...], the nation is an integral part of our spiritual life...
Emmanuel Todd
‘...if the idea of nation is reborn, the feeling of economic powerlessness that paralyses the developed world and its elites will disappear.’ It is the anti-nationalism of the elites, to use Pierre André Taguieff's effective term, that leads to the omnipotence of globalised capital.
The return of a collective consciousness centred on the nation would be enough to transform the tiger of globalisation into a perfectly acceptable domestic cat‘... ’What we need first and foremost is a leap of faith, a reasonable collective belief in the nation... Globalisation - in the anglo-saxon sense - would be the driving force behind this historical inevitability. Because it is everywhere, it cannot be stopped anywhere. A principle of rationality and efficiency, it does not belong to any particular society. It floats, asocial, areligious, anational, above the vast oceans, the Atlantic and the Pacific, fighting for pre-eminence in a battle devoid of conscience and collective values. What can be done against such abstraction, such a delocalisation of history? "... One cannot help but be struck by the feeling of powerlessness that characterises the period, expressed through a hundred variations on the same ideology, of the inevitability of economic processes. The powerlessness of states, nations, ruling classes. This spiritual despondency is paradoxical in a phase of spectacular technical progress, during which man is once again demonstrating his vocation to master nature‘... ’All the beliefs that ensured the definition and cohesion of groups capable of acting collectively seem to be disappearing, in a social and mental universe that would leave only the individual to survive. But it is precisely because he is alone, isolated, in his little corner of rationality, that the individual feels crushed by economic history... According to current thinking, the cause of the decline of nations must be sought in the action of economic forces, in this globalisation whose invincible logic is breaking down borders. At the heart of the crisis, we must identify a collapse of collective beliefs and particularly of the idea of nation... the collapse of this social and psychological framework has not led to the fulfilment of individuals but, on the contrary, to their crushing by a feeling of powerlessness. ‘All true, strong and structuring beliefs are simultaneously individual and collective, as emphasised by the very term “religion”, which refers to both personal faith and social bonds. What the history of humanity amply demonstrates is that individuals are only strong if their community is strong...’. This is why the decline of collective beliefs inevitably leads to the downfall of the individual. When people no longer think of themselves as members of a group, they cease to be individuals."
Pierre Manent
‘The nation welcomed and nurtured democracy; its decline now threatens that very democracy.’
Michel Lacroix : ‘The era of nations is not quite over’ because "national demands are multiplying and the number of states is increasing (from 72 in 1945 to 198 today) .‘ Furthermore, ’the framework of the nation-state remains relevant and desirable, as recently demonstrated by the systemic economic crisis and the role that national solidarity has had to play in addressing it,‘ but also that ’the nation remains the space for individual identity, acting as a counterweight to ethnocultural particularism and communitarianism... the framework of solidarity and social cohesion, and therefore of fraternity,‘ ’the framework of democratic expression: the concept of national sovereignty remains perfectly operational,‘ and finally that ’an “open” form of patriotism is entirely justified... closed and bellicose nationalism now appears to be effectively outdated. Nationalism is generally considered a form of perversion of patriotism... which occurs when national sentiment is disconnected from any access to the universal...(In Praise of Patriotism, A Short Philosophy of National Sentiment, 2011)
UN :
Universal Declaration of Human Rights: UDHR
United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: UNCCPR
Individual human rights
UDHR: ‘Everyone has the right to a nationality. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor of the right to change his nationality.’
UDHR: "Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives. ‘
UDHR: ’The individual has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.‘
Collective human rights
UDHR: ’The will of the people is the basis of the authority of government..."
ICPR: ‘All peoples have the right to self-determination. By virtue of that right, they
freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.’ ‘To achieve their ends, all peoples may freely dispose of their natural wealth and resources...’
UNCCPR: ‘In the event of an exceptional public emergency threatening the life of the nation... /... the States Parties to the present Covenant may take.../... measures derogating from their obligations under the present Covenant.../... and shall not involve discrimination solely on the ground of race, colour, sex, language, religion or social origin.’
Evidence of nations and virtuous circles of consequences
by Henri TEMPLE, author of the first (and only)
Essay on the concept of ‘nationism’
Edition Sphairôs - 472 pages - ISBN : 979-8320709611
Paperback – 29 March 2024
(excerpt)
Professor Doumenge is a renowned geographer (economic and human geography). An honorary professor at several universities, he also headed CHEAM (Centre for Advanced Studies for a Modern Africa and Asia).
Here is what he writes in the final pages of the book Nationism:
‘The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation’: this is what the 1789 Declaration of Human Rights proclaims. In terms of the definition and application of sovereignty, this asserted pre-eminence of the national community over any other organised form of human community is therefore an essential prerequisite for the exercise of democratic rights and the individual freedoms associated with them.
Drawing on various scientific disciplines, Henri Temple's theoretical work goes far beyond this simple observation and succeeds in defining the very essence of the nation, the content of the global consensus that has a lasting influence on individual behaviour and enables the cohesion of a social body endowed with the attributes of sovereignty. In contrast, he also shows us how, by seeking to kill the very idea of the nation, we end up causing the personality of each of its members to atrophy and increasing intra-societal tensions. "
...if the nation is a concept that has been completely abandoned in many democratic nation states, could this not ultimately be linked to the relative failure of their intellectual elites? It is indeed surprising (at least in the French language, which for three centuries has sought to be the “receptacle of universal thought”) that there is no treatise on nationism equivalent to the one produced today by Henri Temple. We should therefore welcome his current contribution, which fuels our reflection at a difficult time in our history, when both the near and distant future appear very uncertain: collectively, rightly or wrongly, tomorrow frightens us.
Henri Temple - BP 13 La Poste 12230 La Cavalerie (France)