Multiculturalism as a New Form of Nationalism?

Abstract

What is often described today as neo‐nationalism or nationalist populism today arguably looks like the old nationalism. What is emerging as genuinely new are the identity‐based nationalisms of the centre left, sometimes called “liberal nationalism” or “progressive patriotism.” I offer my own contribution to the latter, which may be called “multicultural nationalism.” I argue that multiculturalism is a mode of integration that does not just emphasise the centrality of minority group identities but argues that integration is incomplete without remaking national identity so that all can have a sense of belonging to it. This multiculturalist approach to national belonging has some relation to liberal nationalism. It, however, makes not just individual rights but minority accommodation a feature of acceptable nationalism. Moreover, accommodation here particularly includes ethno‐religious groups in ways that are difficult for radical regimes of secularism. For these reasons, multicultural nationalism unites the concerns of some of those currently sympathetic to majoritarian nationalism and those who are prodiversity and minority accommodationist in the way that liberal nationalism (with its emphasis on individualism and majoritarianism) does not. It therefore represents the political idea and tendency most likely to offer a feasible alternative rallying point to monocultural nationalism.

Bringing the State Back into the Sociology of Nationalism: The Persona Ficta Is Political

“…CMEB, 2000; Kymlicka, 1995) where inherited nation-state identifications and state structures are analysed in tension with reflections on historical violence and contemporary prejudice in globalising, increasingly multi-ethnic polities. If, as I have argued, ostensibly national categories are often not national, nor therefore necessarily nationalist, and if politics circumscribed by sovereign states remain our best hope for effective political action, then multiculturalist theory regarding the reshaping of political communities within state limitations will repay a revisit (Modood, 2019); though I would suggest that an explicitly anti-nationalist idiom should be developed alongside already well-developed anti-racist foundations (Leddy-Owen, 2019: 161–163). The task of considering how existing political structures, categories and identifications associated with nationalism might be employed for the long-term goals of cosmopolitan justice is ‘a much more arduous and subtle task than that of rejecting all existing institutions and tastes’ (Ypi, 2012: 159), but it requires urgent consideration in the contemporary sociology of nationalism.…”

Nationalism in the 21st century: Neo‐tribal or plural?

“…A concept similar to plural nationalism has recently been advanced by Tariq Modood (2019), who has argued for a multicultural understanding of nationalism. Modood's notion builds on his earlier writings arguing that British national identity should accommodate post‐migration ethnic minorities who ask for recognition and inclusion within the national self‐concept (Modood, 2003).…”

“…Within his more refined and more recent concept, however, Modood gives more space to the national majority. He avoids the pitfall of Quebec‐style interculturalism or liberal nationalism, which argue for the primacy of the national majority culture, and rather specifies that multicultural nationalism implies that “the predominance that the cultural majority enjoys in shaping the national culture, symbols and institutions should not be exercised in a non‐minority accommodating way” (Modood, 2019: 235). Thus, argues Modood (2019: 236–237) the majority and the minorities should stand in a dialogical relationship, which should recognise that both identities are ever evolving, that neither side has the right to impose itself on the others, in ways that do not allow these others to coexist.…”

“…During the last decade, we witnessed various Indignados and Occupy movements across Europe and North America; youth mobilisation in support of the Arab spring and Gezi park (Turkey) movements; transnational commemorations of the victims of terrorist attacks in Paris, France or in Christchurch, New Zealand, or also the Extinction Rebellion in London; and other European cities as well as the overall Fridays for Future movement of the last couple of years. These trends do not undermine the emotional or political force of nationalism but rather show that such nationalism can also develop in plural (Triandafyllidou, 2013) and multicultural (Modood, 2019) variations, along transnational solidarity themes.…”

Multiculturalism and nationalism: Models of belonging to diverse political community

“…10 10 Gustavsson is increasingly critical of the thick‐thin metaphor for distinguishing types of national identity. See also (Chin, 2019; Modood, 2019). …”