Political philosophy beyond methodological nationalism

Bibliographic Data

ID4079997
AuthorsAlan Sager (0000-0002-7432-6869, Portland State University, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume16
Issue2
Publication date2021-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePhilosophy Compass (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1747-9991 • E-ISSN: 1747-9991
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/phc3.12726
OpenAlexW3122006440
LanguageEN
Citations received13
References cited80

Interdisciplinary work on the nature of borders and society has enriched and complicated our understanding of democracy, community, distributive justice, and migration. It reveals the cognitive bias of methodological nationalism, which has distorted normative political thought on these topics, uncritically and often unconsciously adapting and reifying state-centered conceptions of territory, space, and community. Under methodological nationalism, state territories demarcate the boundaries of the political; society is conceived as composed of immobile, culturally homogenous citizens, each belonging to one and only one state; and the distribution of goods is analyzed according to a stark opposition between the domestic and the international. This article describes how methodological nationalism has shaped central debates in political philosophy and introduces recent work that helps dispel this bias

Democracy · Epistemology · Nationalism · Normative · Opposition (politics) · Political philosophy · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Law · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Political Systems and Governance

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