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Features

Introduction

Throughout the West, populist political parties are challenging the status quo. In response, political parties on both the Left and the Right claim that the populist challenges, many of which look to national histories and cultures for inspiration, are a “threat to democracy.” The established parties warn against “ethnocentrism,” which they claim fosters racism, stereotyping, discrimination, or xenophobia. Most likely, unless a credible alternative is offered, these political debates will continue for years.

One credible alternative is “personalist nationalism.” In his classic 1871 book, Democratic Vistas, America’s Walt Whitman espoused a personalist nationalism. He focused on the quality of Being, according to a person’s “own central idea and purpose.” He proposed a “healthy average personalism . . . the object of which should be to raise and supply through the States a copious race of superb American men and women, cheerful, religious, ahead of any yet known.”[1] For Whitman, it is only in the national context that a person can realize his or her true self: “The literature, songs, and esthetics of a country are of importance principally because they furnish the materials and suggestions of personality for the women and men of that country, and enforce them in a thousand effective ways.”[2]

Similarly, in a 1980 speech to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, known as UNESCO, Pope John Paul II explained how culture is the specific way of man’s existing and being. “Man always lives according to a culture which is specifically his, and which, in its turn, creates among men a tie which is also specifically theirs, determining the inter-human and social character of human existence.”[3]

Pope John Paul II urged UNESCO delegates:

"[W]ith all the means at your disposal, watch over the fundamental sovereignty that every Nation possesses by virtue of its own culture. Cherish it like the apple of your eye for the future of the great human family. Protect it! Do not allow this fundamental sovereignty to become the prey of some political or economic interest. Do not allow it to become a victim of totalitarian and imperialistic systems or hegemonies."[4]

This pillar of Global Governance Watch, provides resources in four areas critical to the success of personalist nationalism: Law and Liberty, Law and Religion, Law and Sovereignty, and Law and Economics.

[1] Walt Whitman, Democratic Vistas (1871), in Specimen Days, Democratic Vistas, and Other Prose, R. Shafer, ed. (Doubleday-Doran, New York) (1935), 294-295

[2] Id., 292.

[3] John Paul II, “Address to UNESCO,” June 2, 1980, https://inters.org/John-Paul-II-UNESCO-Culture

[4] Id.

Documents

Resources

Commentary

Personalist Nationalism

Religious Rights Group Urges EU to Combat Anti-Christian Hate

July 18, 2025

The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe (OIDAC Europe) documented 2,444 hate crimes against Christians in 35 European countries.
US Supreme Court Strikes Another Blow Against the Administrative State

July 18, 2025

Federal district courts are no longer required to defer to the FCC's interpretation of statutes in civil enforcement proceedings.
Membership is Growing for the Democratic Socialists of America

July 02, 2025

The victory of Zohran Mamdani in the Democratic mayoral primary in New York city highlights the growing popularity of the Democratic Socialists of America ("DSA"), the largest socialist organization in the United States.
The Commonalities between Government-Run Grocery Stores and Public Education

July 02, 2025

In light of Zohran Mamdani's win of the Democratic mayoral primary in New York City and his proposal for government-run grocery stores, Reason magazine argues that all government-run services - from grocery stores to education - "stifle competition, kill innovation, and leave citizens with fewer alternatives when the system fails."
The Case for School Choice in Light of 'Mahmoud'

July 01, 2025

Following the United States Supreme Court's recent decision in favor of parental rights in Mahmoud v. Taylor, J.D. Tuccille, contributing editor to Reason magazine, argues that expanded school choice would avoid similar conflicts in the future.

Total Records: 72

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