The Uses and Disadvantages of Arendt's Concept of the Nation

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

Prominent contemporary political theorists of the nation-state disavow brutal deportation policies, but continue to endorse the prerogative of democracies to limit entrance and citizenship. Defenses of the nation-state by conservatives and others draw heavily on Hannah Arendt's claims about the value to political communities of shared traditions and histories as well as her more pragmatic claims about preferring the nation-state to alternatives. The papers in this panel will discuss the centrality as well as the advantages and disadvantages of Arendt's claims about the nation and nation-states to contemporary debates about open borders and theories of citizenship.

Sub Unit

• DIVISION 2: Foundations of Political Theory

Individual Presentations

• When the Nation Conquered the State - Kathleen R. Arnold, DePaul University

• The Genuine Article? Canadian Citizenship and Complicated Children - Lois Harder, University of Alberta

• What Comes After Nationalism? - Daniel I. Morales, University of Houston Law Center

• Jerusalem in Hannah Arendt? - Jacqueline Stevens, Northwestern University

Chair

• John E. Seery Pomona College

Discussant

• Patchen Markell Cornell University