WHAT IS A CIVIC NATION?: Republic of Shared Dreams

What transforms a collection of people into a civic nation - and what does it mean for a nation to be truly free? In this second volume of The Life of Nations, Levent Caglar moves beyond the foundational question of national identity to explore the deeper architecture of civic belonging. Drawing on political philosophy, historical sociology, and comparative analysis, he examines how nations evolve in relation to civil society, capitalism, and the enduring tension between individual liberty and collective will.From the earliest kinship systems to the Enlightenment revolutions that gave birth to modern civic ideals, Caglar traces a single philosophical thread: the nation is not a fixed essence but a living temporal organization - shaped by shared dreams, contested values, and the ongoing struggle to reconcile freedom with solidarity. This book reveals how national consciousness has always been inseparable from economic life, the rise of civil society, and the emotional bonds that sustain collective belonging across generations.Engaging Rousseau, Mill, Durkheim, Gramsci, and contemporary theorists, the book confronts the paradoxes at the heart of civic nationalism: How can a nation be both a vehicle of liberation and an instrument of exclusion? What conditions allow civil society to reform the state from within? What does genuine self-determination require - and what does it cost? Through case studies ranging from the emergence of European bourgeois nations to Türkiye's contested civic identity, Caglar shows that the civic nation is not a finished achievement but an ongoing moral project.A Republic of Shared Dreams is both a rigorous intellectual inquiry and a moral call - an invitation to reimagine the nation not as a border or a flag, but as a community grounded in justice, voluntary association, and the irreducible dignity of every individual. It is a work for readers who believe that the question of how we belong together is the most urgent political question of our time.

Pages: 356, Edition: Volume II ed., Paperback, LEVENT CAGLAR