Part X: Globalization of “nation” and “democracy”
1.
Nation: a question of political institution or
political culture?
1.1. Nation-state
is the dominant form of government in the world.
1.2. Nation-state
is going beyond the local or national institution and becomes a global culture
1.3. “Nation”
and other related keywords become the basic elements for different political
elites fabricating their political culture.
2.
The birth of nation: some cultural origins
2.1. Imagined
Communities (Benedict Anderson)
2.2. Language:
the rise of vernacular language
2.3. Print
capitalism: newspaper and novel
3.
Two forms of nation
3.1. French
revolution-republican tradition: the nation (the people with freedom) as the
basis and sovereignty of a democratic republic (French Revolution).
3.2. German
cultural nationalism: nation as the “natural bond” of culture (Johann Gottfried von Herder)
1. Men
are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be
founded only upon the general good.
2. The
aim of all political association is the preservation of the natural and
imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security,
and resistance to oppression.
3. The
principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation. No body nor
individual may exercise any authority which does not proceed directly from the
nation.
4. Liberty
consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else; hence the
exercise of the natural rights of each man has no limits except those which
assure to the other members of the society the enjoyment of the same rights.
These limits can only be determined by law. … …
Declaration
of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (August
26, 1789)
. . Seas, mountain ranges and rivers are the most
natural boundaries not only of lands but also of peoples, customs, languages
and empires, and they have been, even in the greatest revolutions in human
affairs, the directing lines or limits of world history. If otherwise mountains
had arisen, rivers flowed, or coasts trended, then how very different would
mankind have scattered over this tilting place of nations....
Nature brings forth families; the most natural state
therefore is also one people, with a national character of its own. For
thousands of years this character preserves itself within the people and, if
the native princes concern themselves with it, it can be cultivated in the most
natural way: for a people is as much a plant of nature as is a family, except
that it has more branches. Nothing therefore seems more contradictory to the
true end of governments than the endless expansion of states, the wild
confusion of races and nations under one scepter. An empire made up of a
hundred peoples and a 120 provinces which have been forced together is a
monstrosity, not a state-body.
Materials for the Philosophy of the History of
Mankind, 1784
3.3. Republican
tradition establishes legitimacy of human rights. But it also presupposed the
existence of a collective will of people and a government representing it.
3.4. Cultural
nationalism provided a “natural” bond for the national dynasty and the
nation-state.
3.5. These
two traditions provide some keywords, images and imagination for nation-making
and state-making in other places of the world.
3.6. The
example of China:
-「中國是一個有五千年文化歷史傳統的統一國家」、「自古以來中國都是統一而完整的」。
-PRC:
People’s Republic of China: “people” and “republic”
3.7. The
example of totalitarianism
3.7.1.
Classical King vs. Totalitarian leader
-Classical
King: One is king because everyone treats him as somebody embodied with some
supra-natural qualities. For example: 天子.
-Totalitarian
leader: One is leader because he/ she represents the people. But those who
oppose the leader are classified as “anti-people” or not qualified to be
people.
4.
Example: the justification of “Article 23”
4.1. One
Country, Two System
4.2. The
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region “shall enact laws on it own to prohibit
any act of treason(叛國), secession(分裂國家),
sedition(煽動叛亂), subversion(顛覆)
against the Central People’s Government.
4.3. Justification
I: National Security
-State
security=national security=people’s interest?
-More
or less, this is the republican idea of nation
4.4. Justification
II: All nations, including democratic countries such as UK and US, have laws to
protect its sovereignty, territorial integrity, unity and national security.
-“Western
democracy” is the reference point, selectively used by the government
-Government’s
representative goes to foreign countries for “promoting” “Article 23”.
4.5. Justification
III: No need to worry for ordinary people. It’s none of their business!
-All
people belong to the nation. They would not violate the laws.
4.6. Justification
IV: Why do you treat your own nation or countries as an enemy?
-Nation
as a natural and cultural unity connecting everyone and the nation-state
-Cultural
nationalism is blended with statism.
5.
Nationalism and democracy as global cultures
5.1. Political
elites dispose the keywords “nation”, “democracy”, “freedom”, etc., into
various new configurations of political culture.
5.2. Ordinary
people also manipulate these terms for fighting for their citizen rights and
freedom.
5.3. The
western democratic revolution opens up a loosely structured synopticon of
politics.
Related
websites:
前線與民間人權陣線有關廿三條的網站
Government’s
consultation document on “Article 23”
http://www.info.gov.hk/sb/chi/report/index.html
基本法第二十三條真的與你無關？
http://www.hkci.org.hk/current_c/23booklet.pdf
6.