Interesting paper. I am not sure if his use of a volksgeist model is appropriate in countries such as the US and Canada. There is a very interesting theoretical problem for this type of nation which is the preponderance of immigration in the formation of national populations. A volksgeist really requires a faily homogenous culture as the core of the nation, and most settler societies just do not have that (e.g. the US, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, etc.).Originally Posted by Around Midnight
If you are going to create a volksgeist from a collection of people, then there are some requirements, mainly ideological. Certainly the US had this in the first 150 or so years of its existence, i.e. there was a unifying national myth. That myth, however, has become pretty tattered since the 1930s. Even worse is the polarization of US politics into an entrenched two party system that seems to only reflect itself rather than any national will. As Key notes (I am paraphrasing), if people feel that they are not represented, then the national will will be weakened.
Of probably greater concern, at least to me, is that we are not really operating in a global situation where "national will" is the determining factor. While it is important, what needs to really be considered is "trans-national will". As I've mentioned in a number of places, we are dealing with coalitions rather than state vs. state (or non-state) actors. I believe that we would do well to look at histoprical cases where colelctions of nations have managed to win long term ideological conflicts through expressions of trans-national will and, also, where such coalitions have failed.
Marc
Bookmarks