A Common Country: Solidarity and the Making of American Democracy
A Common Country: Solidarity and the Making of American Democracy
Assistant Professor of Political Science
Cite
Abstract
As their democracy faces an array of crises, Americans confront a recurring question: whether they really constitute a democratic “people” at all. Reactionaries promote a nostalgic ideal of American nationalism while implying that many of their compatriots don’t belong to their imagined nation. In response, many egalitarians are suspicious of appeals to shared civic belonging—seeing them as outmoded, intolerant, and potentially dangerous. In A Common Country, Nathan Pippenger shows that for American democracy to flourish, egalitarians must not reject the ideal of shared American peoplehood but instead put forth their own distinctive claim to its meaning. Pippenger shows that at key periods—from Reconstruction through the Progressive Era, New Deal, and Civil Rights era—democratic reformers realized that the transformative changes they sought would succeed only if the meaning of “We the People” expanded to include everyone in the country. Pippenger’s analysis of this tradition shows not only that democracy requires solidarity but also that solidarity need not presuppose any common trait other than the fact of shared political membership. Examining contemporary problems of nativism, racial injustice, and ascendant oligarchy, A Common Country weaves together history and normative political theory to intervene in urgent debates over nationalism, citizenship, and the fate of democracy. Its distinctive argument is that the solidarity needed to achieve American democracy is not awaiting discovery in some elusive form of unity—rather, it must be consciously cultivated among citizens who share no more, and no less, than a common country.
-
Front Matter
-
Introduction
-
Part I Theory and History
Nathan Pippenger -
Part II Applications
Nathan Pippenger -
End Matter
Sign in
Personal account
- Sign in with email/username & password
- Get email alerts
- Save searches
- Purchase content
- Activate your purchase/trial code
- Add your ORCID iD
Purchase
Our books are available by subscription or purchase to libraries and institutions.
Purchasing informationMonth: | Total Views: |
---|---|
April 2025 | 2 |
April 2025 | 1 |
April 2025 | 1 |
April 2025 | 1 |
April 2025 | 8 |
April 2025 | 1 |
Get help with access
Institutional access
Access to content on Oxford Academic is often provided through institutional subscriptions and purchases. If you are a member of an institution with an active account, you may be able to access content in one of the following ways:
IP based access
Typically, access is provided across an institutional network to a range of IP addresses. This authentication occurs automatically, and it is not possible to sign out of an IP authenticated account.
Sign in through your institution
Choose this option to get remote access when outside your institution. Shibboleth/Open Athens technology is used to provide single sign-on between your institution’s website and Oxford Academic.
If your institution is not listed or you cannot sign in to your institution’s website, please contact your librarian or administrator.
Sign in with a library card
Enter your library card number to sign in. If you cannot sign in, please contact your librarian.
Society Members
Society member access to a journal is achieved in one of the following ways:
Sign in through society site
Many societies offer single sign-on between the society website and Oxford Academic. If you see ‘Sign in through society site’ in the sign in pane within a journal:
If you do not have a society account or have forgotten your username or password, please contact your society.
Sign in using a personal account
Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members. See below.
Personal account
A personal account can be used to get email alerts, save searches, purchase content, and activate subscriptions.
Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members.
Viewing your signed in accounts
Click the account icon in the top right to:
Signed in but can't access content
Oxford Academic is home to a wide variety of products. The institutional subscription may not cover the content that you are trying to access. If you believe you should have access to that content, please contact your librarian.
Institutional account management
For librarians and administrators, your personal account also provides access to institutional account management. Here you will find options to view and activate subscriptions, manage institutional settings and access options, access usage statistics, and more.