Yael Tamir's Liberal Nationalism

Nationalism has been a constant topic since nineteenth Century.The issues closely related to modern nationalism are including whether a nation needs a country,the boundaries between individual rights and collective rights,and the possibility of minority rights within multinational states.This article starts with the idea of liberal nationalism of Yael Tamir and she is the founder of this theory.Through the study of her thoughts,the concept of national self-determination and "contextualized individual" is explained,which makes it easier to understand the unique branch of liberalism combined with the historical development of Western nationalism.The first chapter of this paper analyzes the theoretical framework with Tamir's writings as the core,and at the same time traces her source of thoughts.The second chapter compares the above mentioned key issues of nationalism with other nationalist theories of the same period in the West after World War ? and compares Tamir's with the same types of liberal nationalist theorists.The comparison further shows the advantages and limitations of Tamir's liberal nationalism.In the third chapter,the author attempts to supplement its theoretical insufficiency by proposing a dual-track model applicable to multi-ethnic countries and amending the concept of"contextualized individual”that is theoretically presumed.The research in this paper responds to the Chinese liberalism and nationalism thoughts and explores the new direction of free nationalism.