It might sound like difficult terrain, but ideas of nationhood can be progressive as well as regressive, and could help bind Australians ahead of the Voice referendum.
Lebanon’s 1989 peace deal ended a civil war by sharing political power between religious factions. That created a society profoundly divided by religion – something today’s protesters hope to change.
What makes for a thriving nation and happy citizens? Values. A nation’s institutions need people with supporting underlying values to perform at their best.
The National Question cannot be resolved solely through South Africa’s constitution. There’s potential for a far more radical transformative project than traditional liberalism.
Wrestling is Senegal’s national sport. But the presence of an ethnic discourse within the sporting arena may well threaten the notion of the multi-ethnic nation state.