Civic nationalism, also known as liberal nationalism, is a kind of nationalism identified by political philosophers who believe in a non-xenophobic form of nationalism compatible with values of freedom, tolerance, equality, and individual rights. Ernest Renan and John Stuart Mill are often thought to be early civic nationalists. Civic nationalists often defend the value of national identity by saying that individuals need a national identity in order to lead meaningful, autonomous lives and that democratic polities need national identity in order to function properly.
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History
Civic nationalism is a form of nationalism in which the state derives political legitimacy from the active participation of its citizenry (see popular sovereignty), to the degree that it represents the "general will". It is often seen as originating with Jean-Jacques Rousseau and especially the social contract theories which take their name from his 1762 book The Social Contract.
Civic nationalism lies within the traditions of rationalism and liberalism, but as a form of nationalism it is contrasted with ethnic nationalism. Membership of the civic nation is considered voluntary, as in Ernest Renan's classical definition in "Qu'est-ce qu'une nation?" of the nation as a "daily referendum" characterized by the "will to live together". Civic-national ideals influenced the development of representative democracy in countries such as the United States and France (see the United States Declaration of Independence of 1776, and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789).
States in which civic forms of nationalism predominate are often (but not always) ex-settler colonies such as the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina, in which ethnic nationalism is difficult to construct on account of the diversity of ethnicities within the state. A notable exception is India where civic nationalism has predominated due to the country's linguistic, religious and ethnic diversity. Civic-nationalist states are often characterized by adoption of the jus soli (law of the soil) for granting citizenship in the country, deeming all persons born within the integral territory of the state citizens and members of the nation, regardless of their parents' origin. This serves to link national identity not with a people but rather with the territory and its history, and the history of previous occupants of the territory unconnected to the current occupants are often appropriated for national myths.
In the United Kingdom, UKIP encourage a form of civic nationalism with more controlled immigration often confused with more sinister forms of nationalism. The SNP and Plaid Cymru, which advocate independence of their respective nations from the United Kingdom, proclaim themselves to be civic nationalist parties, in which they advocate the independence and popular sovereignty of the people living in their nations society, not individual ethnic groups.
Civic nationalism in post-Soviet Ukraine has prevailed since the Orange Revolution.
In Flanders, Belgium the regionalist New Flemish Alliance is considered the advocate of civic nationalism. Whereas in Catalonia, an autonomous region of Spain, parties such as Ciu and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya are the largest two civic nationalist parties. Furthermore, in Spain, there is the Eusko Alkartasuna which is becoming increasingly civic.
Outside Europe, it has also been used to describe the Civil War-era Republican Party in the United States.
Civic nationalism contrasts with more restrictive forms, such as ethnic nationalism.