The universal call for national freedom
The anti-imperialist struggle of the peoples arrives in the West
Bradley Devlin, politics editor for The Daily Signal, recently interviewed Yoram Hazony on “The Signal Sitdown,” focusing on Hazony’s 2018 book The Virtue of Nationalism, which was published in a new edition in January 2025. Hazony declared in the interview, well worth listening to, that nationalism, properly understood, is “a theory of political order, which asserts or takes the position that the world is governed best when it’s constituted by many independent nations.” He further asserted that nationalism is fundamentally opposed to imperialism, which seeks to place the world under the direct and indirect control of a single government, which leads to a world of competing imperialisms and constant conflict and war. He maintained that the struggle between imperialism and nationalism is the fundamental conflict of our times.
Since its publication in 2018, The Virtue of Nationalism has been a central part of a process of reconstruction of the political right in the tradition of Anglo-American conservatism, moving conservative political thought and action beyond a choice between classical liberalism and a racialist politics of white identity. This process has included the rise of an international network of allied nationalist movements, in which nationalists and conservatives from many different countries have gathered at public meetings, forging ties across national borders.
Hazony’s critique of Western political philosophy and its recent tendency toward imperialism disguised as liberal internationalism is rooted in the teachings of the ancient prophets of Israel. He demonstrates a thorough understanding of the sacred texts, with a focus on their teachings with respect to the establishment of a Jewish state. And his critique is based in Jewish nationalism, which has struggled to establish a Jewish national state, standing in opposition to imperialism.
Hazony is very knowledgeable with respect to Western political philosophy and Western nations and political movements. He considers the Anglo-American political tradition as the most progressive formulation, standing against pre-modern expressions of European imperialism.
However, Hazony tells the story of Western nationalism, ignoring the emergence of nationalism in the rest of the regions of the world. This is a major limitation in his analysis, because in the twentieth century, Third World movements of national liberation emerged to force a transition from colonialism to neocolonialism. In addressing the possibilities for nationalism in the world today, the strength and weaknesses of the Third World projects of national liberation, including their twenty-first century renewal, must be critically engaged, and the voice of the Global South must be included in the analysis. In the challenges that humanity confronts today, we must free ourselves from the distortions of Cold War ideologies with respect to the Global South, liberating ourselves from imperialism and reconceptualizing our understanding of the leading national states of the Global South on the foundation of a dialogue of civilizations between the West and the South.
In today’s commentary, I provide a review of the insights of the 2025 edition of The Virtue of Nationalism as well as a critique of the book from the perspective of the Global South.