Nationhood, Modernity, Democracy
Nationhood, Modernity, Democracy

Summary/Abstract: All cultures are communities of moral value – they create moral values and demand recognition as communities of value creation and worth. If we accept this proposition, then it follows that we place a value on diversity, however much we may dislike certain practices that other communities of moral worth pursue. This position, however, is directly challenged by globalisation and human rights normativity, for instance, and the world that we live in can be interpreted along this polarity. I examine in-depth the relationship between political power and cultural community. My argument centers on the idea that this relationship is real, that political power rests on bounded cultures, and that the very real attainments of democracy are determined in signifi cant part by the cultural foundations of political power. My starting point is the coming of modernity. Modernity is a much contested concept and has dimensions in politics, the economy, society and culture in the widest sense, not to mention psychology and other areas. In the context of nationhood, however, the central determinant is the transformation of the nature of power.

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