what is the relevance of logic to nation building?

Answer 1

Perhaps logical people make a better nation. However, all major movements are driven by emotion.

Answer 2

Logic and reasoning, its less specific cousin, are essential to communication. Without communication, there is no nation, and certainly there is no growth.

Philosophy as a discipline is essential to any nation, and all the more so one in transition -- nation building, if you will. Logic is the foundation of all philosophical analysis. We cannot decide on a Constitution and form a government which meets our needs if we cannot talk about our ideals and values. And we must talk about those in creating a nation or we will have tyranny.

I am very fortunate to live in a country with an old and well-tested Constitution. Feel free to adapt our precious document to your own needs, anywhere in the world, and we Americans will do our best to assist you. We really do believe in liberty and justice for all.

Answer 3

It's a very weird question. By "nation-building" is generally meant a process of getting people to identify with particular symbols and a shared version of a common, distinctive history as a 'people'. Education policy plays a huge role, typically. It's a political process and you can generally find members of a political and cultural elite who stand to benefit from convincing the masses that they share a distinctive national identity.

Some good can come of this process (for instance, people who share a sense of national solidarity might be more likely to make sacrifices for the common good, supporting welfare programs and volunteering more often), but also a lot of bad (xenophobia, outright hostility to immigrants, or minority groups who don't buy into, or fit into, the national myth).

So, in the sense that elites often stand to benefit from nation-building, and that they can try to justify it in terms of the common good, there is a sort of rational logic to the process. But nation-building never appeals to logic and reason, instead preferring to incite passions and prejudices.

Answer 4

If one nation does anything logical, the competing nations will have predicted it and be waiting to take advantage of it.