‘The Nation is an Institution which has Outlived its Usefulness’

David Miller (Nuffield College, Oxford University), Barry C. Smith (School of Advanced Study, University of London), Lea Ypi (London School of Economics)

David Miller and Lea Ypi will address the motion, ‘‘The Nation is an Institution which has Outlived its Usefulness’.

The event is free but you must book a place here: http://royalinstitutephilosophy.org/events/annual-debate/

Among other issues the debate addresses the tension between cosmopolitanism, as manifested in transnational agencies like the UN, the IMF, the EU, the World Bank, and the sense many people have that their local allegiances and loyalties are being threatened by globalisation. Against that sense it could be pointed out that some of these local allegiances may be unpleasant, and the source of conflict, and that they are increasingly irrelevant in the world of mass communication (internet etc), trade, travel, migration and movement. On the other hand, will eroding people’s national loyalty in the name of inevitable progress undermine the sense of community and belonging on which living together depends? These are likely to be some of the issues which will be discussed in what promises to be a lively and constructive debate.