Abstract
A dominant classification that expresses the relationship between the state and its citizens is one that categorizes social concepts into republican and liberal ones. According to republicanism, the community, not the individual, is the sphere where moral destiny has been created. In contrast with republicanism, liberalism stresses the priority of individual over society. From these two contradicting concepts, emerge two different agreements between citizens and society. The republican equation is different from the liberal social contract in that it exchanges sacrifice for additional common goods – material or symbolic. The republican equation enables individuals or groups who take extra burdens to obtain rewards, such as social dominance or personal legacy. However, this research reveals a third prescription, different from the two others and emerging from a third category of civil-society relations: the covenant of the vanguard. Throughout history, different societies were led by ideological groups, who did not act according to the rules of the republican-liberal continuum. These groups, the vanguard of the national forefront, have a totally different set of rules. Their dedication to the common cause is total, and they share an enthusiasm for sacrifice. An empirical analysis of documented testimonies and writings of such groups in the Israeli case study shows how this strange and different formula works. Studying thoroughly the occurrence of the covenant of the vanguard will enable a comprehension of a dimension in political psychology, of which little research has been led until now.
Presenters
Eyal LewinChair of Department of Middle Eastern Studies and Political Science, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Ariel University, Israel
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Liberalism, Republicanism, Social Contract, Ideological Vanguard, Nationalism
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