REPRESENTATION OF NATIONALISM: STRUCTURE, CONTENT, CRITICISM
K. G. Maltsev1, A. L. Alaverdyan2
Belgorod State Technological University named after V. G. Shukhova, Belgorod, Russia
1e-mail: maltsevaannav@mail.ru
2e-mail: arti-medwd@mail.ru
Abstract. Nationalism determines modernity — L. Grinfeld’s thesis at the very beginning of the 90s of the twentieth century (repeating the judgment of E. Keduri in the early 60s), unexpectedly for liberal social science, immediately acquired political relevance. The purpose of the article is to identify the reasons for this «surprise»: the representation of the nation in the economic paradigm of the political (D. Agamben’s term) as a civic association of freely self-determining autonomous individuals-citizens excludes the possibility of national conflicts, the reality of which is obvious. Objective scientific research within the disciplinary structure of modern science has as a given object of research in the representation: thus, a philosophical interpretation becomes necessary as a method of criticizing the representation of the nation and the national in the economic paradigm. It has been established that the representation of a nation is normatively and value-wise conditioned by the foundations of «liberal metaphysics»; it is necessary to distinguish between «civil» and «ethnic» nationalisms, which does not have «empirical foundations» (R. Brubaker); attribution to value as a way of constructing an ideal-typical concept of nationalism presupposes the need for an assessment conditioned by the way nationalism is presented; the moral and political disqualification of «ethnic nationalism» as an invalid «remnant» (V. Pareto) is thus «built in» into scientific research, which is at the same time an ideological instrument and a political program. The philosophical interpretation of the meaning of the representation of nationalism in liberal social science, external in relation to the dominant paradigm of the political, provides scientific novelty and leads to the conclusion: a «civil nation» is valid as a political project that presupposes a «historiographic recalculation of the past» (M. Heidegger), retrospectively placing the beginning of nationalism in past. In the course of the presentation, the practical significance of the conclusion is clarified: the theory of the «civilized nation» presupposes drawing a border between «civilized» and — «cultural» and «natural» nationalisms as political enemies that must be removed: drawing the line between «civil» and «ethnic» nationalisms has both scientific and political significance; These circumstances contribute to the understanding of the meaning and the assigned goal of the nation-building process and the practice of national politics.
Key words: nationalism, national identity, civil nation, ethnic nationalism, ideology, philosophical interpretation, economic paradigm of the political.
Cite as: Maltsev, K. G., Alaverdyan, A. L. (2021) [Representation of nationalism: structure, content, criticism]. Intellekt. Innovatsii. Investitsii [Intellect. Innovations. Investments]. Vol. 3, рр. 100–110. DOI: 10.25198/2077-7175-2021-3-100.
