Problematizing and Reappraising Critiques of “Ethno‐Nationalism”: Collective Self‐Determination, Liberal Democracy, and Human Rights in Dynamic Synergy

Noam Schimmel

World Affairs, 2025, vol. 188, issue 1

Abstract: This commentary argues that the typically left‐wing critique of ethnic‐national self‐determination is often inadvertently neo‐imperial and forces a largely Anglo‐American theory and practice of democracy on other states and peoples who have different identities, values, cultures, and conceptions and practices of democracy that are well within the normative boundaries of the framework of international law and international human rights law. In so doing, it discriminates against many peoples and ethnic groups who organize themselves politically in ways that give expression to both liberal democracy and ethnic‐national collective identity—in dynamic relationship, sometimes in tension, but not in fundamentally mutually exclusive and contradictory ways as they are often depicted and inaccurately and unfairly accused. 本篇评论文认为, 这种典型的左翼对族裔民族自决的批判往往无意中带有新帝国主义色彩, 并将英美民主理论和实践强加于具有不同身份、价值观、文化以及民主观念和实践的其他国家和民族, 而这些国家和民族完全符合国际法和国际人权法框架的规范界限。因此, 它就歧视了许多民族和族群, 这些民族和族群的政治组织方式既体现了自由民主, 又体现了民族集体认同——它们之间的关系是动态的, 有时是紧张的, 但并不像人们经常描述和不准确、不公平地指责的那样 (即关系在根本上是相互排斥和矛盾的) 。 Este comentario sostiene que esta crítica típicamente izquierdista de la autodeterminación nacional étnica es a menudo inadvertidamente neoimperial e impone una teoría y práctica de la democracia en gran medida angloamericana a otros estados y pueblos que tienen diferentes identidades, valores, culturas y concepciones. y prácticas de la democracia que están dentro de los límites normativos del marco del derecho internacional y del derecho internacional de los derechos humanos. Al hacerlo, discrimina a muchos pueblos y grupos étnicos que se organizan políticamente de maneras que dan expresión tanto a la democracia liberal como a la identidad colectiva nacional étnica, en relaciones dinámicas, a veces en tensión, pero no de maneras fundamentalmente mutuamente excluyentes y contradictorias, como lo son. a menudo son retratados y acusados de manera inexacta e injusta.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1002/waf2.12060

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:woraff:v:188:y:2025:i:1:n:e12060

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in World Affairs from John Wiley & Sons
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().