Thread: This is a useful thread that I happen to have serious disagreements with. Useful because it shows to me the fundamental flaw of the so-called “constitutional patriotism” conceptualisation of the nation-state, as people bound together by “values” https://twitter.com/asimali6/status/1321526367574437888

That won’t work. Because any section of people can demand a new set of values to be enshrined in the constitution, and if they are large enough (not even a majority, but just an obdurate minority), that fundamental disagreement can cause lack of national cohesion

And even social conflict. Hence “cultural nationalism” is far more durable - base the nation-state in identity, not values. That identity can of course be multicultural, but it is anchored on specific history, norms, traditions, and cultural features. It is NOT abstract values

A nation is an imagined community, but cultural nationalism gives clear direction on the contours of such imagination and makes it vivid for citizens. And the state can foster loyalty to those symbols of our cultural inheritance. Membership to the nation-state...

..with immigration also becomes an act of emotionally accepting those cultural markers as one that you embrace and want to be a part of. Btw, I am not a fan of French lacite. BUT if I ever wanted to be French - I would have to accept it....

AND speak the French language, and the history of the French Revolution has to resonate with me, as should other symbols of French culture. If that doesn’t, then you aren’t creating a cohesive nation-state. (End).

To clarify - culture includes values. But those values are not “universal”. They are anchored in the specific cultural environment. Lacite is a French value (not a “universal” one). Anyone who becomes French should embrace French culture including French values. ...

The mistake the French, like others, made is to think their values are “universal”, so even people with a totally different culture will somehow embrace their values, even at scale. That won’t happen. Unless there is cultural assimilation (which can only happen at low scale)...

... you won’t imbibe the same values. Nation-building involves a common culture, that includes values specific to that culture, not “universal” values divorced from culture and identity.