Both Roger Scruton and Yoram Hazony argue that the nation-state has its virtues. In the current “global conflict,” Scruton urged, “the nation is one of the things that we must keep." Sir Roger Scruton wrote of a “turning point in our history”[1], and this turning point was about the nation. Scruton believed that the “greatest [...]
Unlike our present politicians, George Washington and Russell Kirk cared about the common good, strove for it, and constantly reminded us what it means to be a citizen of a republic. Dear Imaginative Conservative reader, as we approach this journal's fourteenth birthday, I owe a humble apology (bless me, Father, for I have sinned!) to [...]
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued its preliminary ruling in the genocide case brought by South Africa against Israel on January 26, 2024. It landed with a thud, the world shrugged its shoulders, and nothing changed. The ruling was provisional, and a final ruling on the merits may be years away. But this is [...]
Socialism did not kill merely the body—it sought to extinguish the soul and all belief in anything transcendent in the human person. As we celebrate the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, it is time to remember and reclaim man’s oldest faith, a faith in one Almighty God who make each of us [...]
Most westward expansion was morally ambiguous, with blame and praise earned on both sides, but expansion was almost always made worse by a progressive drive on the part of the government. Our friend Brad Birzer’s musings on his trip to the West (God’s country, the home of all good men, etc.) raise some important issues. [...]
József Cardinal Mindszenty's memoir is an epic of the great suffering of the Hungarian nation and of this man’s participation in it, out of his love for his people, his Church, and his God. In addition to the cruelties of totally repugnant totalitarianism, he endured abandonment by the Church, culminating in heartbreaking treatment by the [...]
Russian warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin, the the head of the Wagner Group, advanced on Moscow when the government refused to address his criticisms of the war effort in Ukraine. There is an obscure episode in Russian history that provides a revealing, albeit imperfect, analogue to this recent event: the so-called Kornilov Affair of 1917. For twenty-four [...]
Because of the extraordinary valor shown by so many young men on that distant beach, America stood singular and tall in the saddle. It was her finest hour and for that at least we must be grateful. General Mark W. Clark, whose Fifth Army led the capture of Rome in June of 1944, was the [...]
We believe in a Europe of nations. The only remedy is to strengthen nations—not only Hungary, but nations in general. This is the basis of Western culture, this is the basis of Western competitive advantage, this—the nations—is what made the West great. On May 5, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was interviewed on the Kossuth Radio [...]
Most wonderful of all from an American perspective is that we can all feel so good about this war. On the Right, it satisfies that messianic itch to make the world in our own image, while on the Left it satisfies that eternal yearning to save the oppressed. It’s a perfect storm of righteousness and [...]
If in fact the prudential, immediate goal of conservatives is simply to defend what remains of our heritage and forestall a slide into anarchy, then what is it conservatives can do to sustain our Republic of Hustlers? At our 2009 annual meeting, the Scholars Council of the Library of Congress was exposed to some surreal [...]
Switzerland remains feisty, free, and a bright beacon in a dark age for a collapsing civilization that should be looking to its example. For those weaned on the open-borders, Leftist humanitarian brainwashing of modern times, here are a few rules from the Singapore of Central Europe. “When all the world is socialist, Switzerland will have [...]
The spirit of good nationalism is inseparable from the spirit of humility. It loves its neighbours. A good nationalist loves the good nationalists in other nations because they love their country as he loves his. A good nationalist knows that bad nationalism is merely imperialism wearing a patriotic mask. Nationalism has a bad name and [...]
Each nation, however small, is called to be a new David. It is through the small and beautiful power of local cultures that the globalist Goliath will be defeated. There are two types of nationalism. There is the “nationalism” of the great nations which all too often manifests itself in the imposition of the nation’s [...]