Global Governance Watch^©

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

Judicial Tyranny and the Death of Free Speech in Brazil

August 22, 2025

Free speech in Brazil has been deteriorating for years, because of judicial activism by the Supreme Court and the operation of a censorship infrastructure that targets individuals and organizations that deviate from an imposed orthodoxy.
America Should Celebrate Its Heroes

August 22, 2025

The Trump administration is calling for a reappreciation of heroes from American history as a way of reigniting patriotism and correcting a fixation with victims.
Global Governance vs. Democratic Sovereignty

August 18, 2025

Both the climate and health security agendas rely on similar premises that seek to legitimize concerted global action to address climate and health related challenges, but the reality might be different than it is usually portrayed.
The Case for a Conservative Canon

August 14, 2025

Despite the recent election of President Donald Trump by a landslide, conservatism is in crisis, and a rediscovery of its roots in the works of Russell Kirk may prove inestimable for its renewal.
White House Launches Review of Smithsonian Museums

August 13, 2025

White House officials are launching a review of some of the Smithsonian’s museums aimed at ensuring “alignment” with President Trump’s “directive to celebrate American exceptionalism.

Total Records: 106

More News << 6 7 8 9 10 > >>

eResources

Copyright 2025 Global Governance Watch. All Rights Reserved.

A project of The Federalist Society for Law & Public Policy Studies