SavedAdd your journal

Journals / İmgelem / 2026 / Sayı: 20

Exclusionary Nationalism and the Democratic Reconstruction of National Identity: A Theoretical Proposal Based on Inclusive Democracy

Dışlayıcı Milliyetçilik ve Ulusal Kimliğin Demokratik Yeniden İnşası: Kapsayıcı Demokrasi Temelli Teorik Bir Öneri

Bilal Görentaş(Kilis 7 Aralık Üniversitesi)0000-0002-6802-5007
Fatma Betül Tatlı(KİLİS 7 ARALIK ÜNİVERSİTESİ)0000-0002-2784-7282
Journal
İmgelem
Pages
190–220
Publication Date
2026-09-27
🏛️Bibliographic metadata and full text access for this article are provided via DergiPark.
DergiPark Record ↗
✨

AI Summary & Key Takeaways

AI Insight
⚡ TL;DR(Too Long; Didn't Read)

Consequently, the study proposes a model of inclusive national identity and democratic design that keeps political conflict within democratic boundaries while positioning different identities as equal components of national belonging.

📌 3 Key Takeaways

🎯
Objective & Hypothesis:This article examines how national identity can be redefined in response to the democratic erosion generated by the rise of exclusionary nationalism.
📊
Key Findings & Data:Its central thesis is that constructing an inclusive national identity is both a historical imperative and a strategic necessity for preserving the normative foundations of democracy and ensuring social cohesion.
💡
Conclusion & Impact:Consequently, the study proposes a model of inclusive national identity and democratic design that keeps political conflict within democratic boundaries while positioning different identities as equal components of national belonging.
🔬Design:Modeling & Simulation
📍Scope:Comprehensive Sample
⚙️Variables:Dışlayıcı Milliyetçilik · Kapsayıcı Ulusal Kimlik · Anayasal Yurtseverlik

Abstract

This article examines how national identity can be redefined in response to the democratic erosion generated by the rise of exclusionary nationalism. Its central thesis is that constructing an inclusive national identity is both a historical imperative and a strategic necessity for preserving the normative foundations of democracy and ensuring social cohesion. As a non-empirical normative-theoretical study, the article employs conceptual analysis and theoretical synthesis to reconstruct the democratic conditions under which national identity can be redefined inclusively. The theoretical framework integrates Habermas’s concept of constitutional patriotism, Benhabib’s notion of democratic iterations, and Mouffe’s understanding of agonistic pluralism within a broader perspective of inclusive democracy. By synthesizing these approaches, the article formulates a normative model based on equal citizenship, pluralism, and the rule of law. It also offers a strategic roadmap for reconfiguring democratic institutions, modes of representation, and public deliberation in response to exclusionary nationalism. Consequently, the study proposes a model of inclusive national identity and democratic design that keeps political conflict within democratic boundaries while positioning different identities as equal components of national belonging.

Özet

Bu makale dışlayıcı milliyetçilik dalgasının yol açtığı demokratik erozyon karşısında ulusal kimliğin nasıl yeniden tanımlanabileceği sorusuna odaklanır. Çalışmanın temel savı şudur: Demokrasinin normatif temellerini ve toplumsal bütünlüğü koruyabilmek için kapsayıcı bir ulusal kimliğin inşası hem tarihsel bir zorunluluk hem de stratejik bir gerekliliktir. Ampirik veri toplamaya dayanmayan bu normatif-teorik çalışma, kavramsal analiz ve kuramsal sentez yöntemiyle Habermas’ın anayasal yurtseverlik yaklaşımını, Benhabib’in demokratik yinelemeler kavramsallaştırmasını ve Mouffe’un agonistik çoğulculuk anlayışını kapsayıcı demokrasi perspektifinde bir araya getirir. Bu üç çizgi sentezlenerek eşit yurttaşlık, çoğulculuk ve hukukun üstünlüğü ilkelerine dayalı normatif bir model geliştirilmektedir. Makale ayrıca demokratik kurumların temsil biçimlerinin ve kamusal tartışma alanlarının dışlayıcı milliyetçiliğe karşı nasıl yeniden düzenlenebileceğine dair stratejik bir yol haritası sunar. Böylece çalışma, çatışmayı demokratik sınırlar içinde tutan ve farklı kimlikleri ulusal aidiyetin eşit bileşenleri olarak konumlandıran kapsayıcı bir ulusal kimlik ve demokrasi tasarımı önermektedir.

🔖

Cite This Article

Görentaş, B., Tatlı, F. B. (2026). Exclusionary Nationalism and the Democratic Reconstruction of National Identity: A Theoretical Proposal Based on Inclusive Democracy. İmgelem, Sayı: 20, 190–220. https://doi.org/10.53791/imgelem.1974159

📄 Full Text PDF Viewer

📄

PDF görüntüleyici hazırlanıyor...

References (62)

  1. Abraham, D. (2008). Constitutional patriotism, citizenship, and belonging. International Journal of Constitutional Law, 6(1), 137-152. https://doi.org/10.1093/icon/mom038
  2. Abts, K., ve Rummens, S. (2007). Populism versus democracy. Political studies, 55(2), 405-424.
  3. Anderson, B. (2006). Imagined communities. Verso Books.
  4. Appiah, K. A. (2007). Ethics in a World of Strangers.
  5. Arato, A. (2013). Political theology and populism. Social Research: An International Quarterly, 80(1), 143-172.
  6. Arato, A. (2016). Post sovereign constitution making: learning and legitimacy. Oxford University Press.
  7. Arato, A., ve Cohen, L. J. (2022). Populism and Civil Society: The Challenge to Constitutional Democracy. Oxford University Press.
  8. Arendt, H. (2014). Totalitarizmin Kaynakları (İ. Serin, Çev.). İletişim Yayınları.
  9. Bauböck, R. (2018). Democratic inclusion: Rainer Bauböck in dialogue. Manchester University Press.
  10. Baumeister, A. (2007). Diversity and Unity: The Problem with Constitutional Patriotism. European Journal of Political Theory, 6(4), 483-503.
  11. Beck, U. (2006). Cosmopolitan vision. Polity.
  12. Benhabib, S. (1999). Müzakereci bir demokratik meşruiyet modeline doğru. Demokrasi ve farklılık, 492-508.
  13. Benhabib, S. (2004). The rights of others: Aliens, residents, and citizens. Cambridge University Press.
  14. Benhabib, S. (2006). Another cosmopolitanism. Oxford University Press.
  15. Benhabib, S. (2009a). Claiming rights across borders: International human rights and democratic sovereignty. American Political Science Review, 103(4), 691-704.
  16. Benhabib, S. (2009b). Twilight of sovereignty or the emergence of cosmopolitan norms? Rethinking citizenship in volatile times. Democracy, States, and the Struggle for Global Justice içinde (ss. 79-98). Routledge.
  17. Benhabib, S. (2017). Citizens, residents, and aliens in a changing world: Political membership in the global era. Citizenship Rights içinde (ss. 147-182). Routledge.
  18. Bieber, F. (2018). Is Nationalism on the Rise? Assessing Global Trends. Ethnopolitics, 17(5), 519-540. https://doi.org/10.1080/17449057.2018.1532633
  19. Brubaker, R. (2020). Populism and nationalism. Nations and nationalism, 26(1), 44-66.
  20. Castells, M. (2011). The power of identity (Vol. 14). John Wiley & Sons.
  21. Çiçek, A. (2024). The Impact of Nationalism on Democracy: Historical, Theoretical and Intellectual Perspectives. İmgelem, (15), 333-362. https://doi.org/10.53791/imgelem.1567859
  22. Çıdam, Ç. (2017). Radical Democracy without Risks? Habermas on Constitutional Patriotism and Civil Disobedience. New German Critique, 44(2), 105-132.
  23. De Cleen, B., ve Stavrakakis, Y. (2017). Distinctions and articulations: A discourse theoretical framework for the study of populism and nationalism. Javnost-The Public, 24(4), 301-319.
  24. De Cleen, B., ve Stavrakakis, Y. (2020). How should we analyze the connections between populism and nationalism: A response to Rogers Brubaker. Nations and nationalism, 26(2), 314-322.
  25. Freedom House. (2025). Freedom in the World 2025: The uphill battle to safeguard rights. Freedom House.
  26. Gellner, E. (2006). Nations and nationalism. Blackwell Publishing.
  27. Görentaş, B. (2018). Imagining Geography: National Identity, Narrative and Bordering [Coğrafya Tahayyülleri: Ulusal Kimlik, Anlatı ve Sınır]. Anemon Muş Alparslan Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 6(1), 139-143.
  28. Gürel, Ö. E. (2021). Habermas’ın Hukuk Felsefesinde Anayasa ve Devrim İlişkisi: Mahcup Bir Hegelci Olarak Demokratik Cumhuriyeti Savunmak mı? K. G. Ö. E. Gürel (Ed.), Alacakaranlıkta Hegel’i Düşünmek içinde (ss. 179-221). Ayrıntı Yayınları.
  29. Habermas, J. (1996). Between facts and norms: Contributions to a discourse theory of law and democracy. Polity Press.
  30. Habermas, J. (1999). Three normative models of democracy: liberal, republican, procedural. Questioning Ethics içinde (ss. 135-144). Routledge.
  31. Habermas, J. (2015). Öteki olmak, ötekiyle yaşamak (İ. Aka, Çev.). Yapı Kredi Yayınları.
  32. Hall, S. (1996). Who needs identity? S. Hall ve P. D. Gay (Eds.), Questions of cultural identity: Identity and Cultural Studies: Is that all there is içinde (ss. 1-17). Sage Publication.
  33. Hobsbawm, E. J. (1992). Nations and nationalism since 1780: Programme, myth, reality. Cambridge university press.
  34. Honig, B. (2006). Another cosmopolitanism? Law and politics in the new Europe. Another cosmopolitanism, 102-127.
  35. Inglehart, R., ve Norris, P. (2017). Trump and the Populist Authoritarian Parties: The Silent Revolution in Reverse. Perspectives on Politics, 15(2), 443-454. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592717000111
  36. Kant, I. (1795/2006). Ebedi Barış Üzerine Felsefi Bir Taslak (İ. Kuçuradi, Çev.). Türkiye Felsefe Kurumu.
  37. Kymlicka, W. (2003). Multicultural states and intercultural citizens. Theory and Research in Education, 1(2), 147-169. Kymlicka, W. (2016). Defending diversity in an era of populism: Multiculturalism and interculturalism compared. Multiculturalism and interculturalism: Debating the dividing lines, 158-177.
  38. Kymlicka, W. (2020). Solidarity in diverse societies: Beyond neoliberal multiculturalism and welfare chauvinism. Minorities and populism–critical perspectives from South Asia and Europe içinde (ss. 41-62). Springer.
  39. Lecours, A. (2000). Ethnic and civic nationalism: Towards a new dimension. Space and Polity, 4(2), 153-166.
  40. Lefort, C. (1988). Democracy and Political Theory (D. Macey, Çev.). Polity Press.
  41. Levitsky, S., ve Ziblatt, D. (2018). How democracies die. Crown Publishing Group.
  42. Menent, M. (2018). Constitutional patriotism in Jürgen Habermass political thought [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Sussex.
  43. Mouffe, C. (1999). Deliberative democracy or agonistic pluralism? Social research, 745-758.
  44. Mouffe, C. (2015). Demokratik Paradoks (C. Aşkın, Çev.). Epos Yayınları.
  45. Mounk, Y. (2018). The people vs. democracy: Why our freedom is in danger and how to save it. In The People vs. Democracy. Harvard University Press.
  46. Mudde, C. (2004). The populist zeitgeist. Government and Opposition, 39(4), 541-563.
  47. Mudde, C. (2019). The far right today. John Wiley & Sons.
  48. Mudde, C., ve Kaltwasser, C. R. (2012). Populism in Europe and the Americas: Threat or corrective for democracy? Cambridge University Press.
  49. Müller, J.-W. (2016). What is populism? University of Pennsylvania Press.
  50. Mylonas, H., ve Tudor, M. (2021). Nationalism: What we know and what we still need to know. Annual Review of Political Science, 24(1), 109-132.
  51. O’Donnell, G. A. (1994). Delegative democracy. Journal of democracy, 5(1), 55-69.
  52. Pitkin, H. F. (1967). The concept of representation. University of California Press.
  53. Schmitt, C. (1988). The crisis of parliamentary democracy (E. Kennedy, Çev.). Mit Press.
  54. Simonsen, K. B., ve Bonikowski, B. (2020). Is civic nationalism necessarily inclusive? Conceptions of nationhood and anti‐Muslim attitudes in Europe. European Journal of Political Research, 59(1), 114-136.
  55. Spencer, P., ve Wollman, H. (1998). Good and bad nationalisms: A critique of dualism. Journal of Political Ideologies, 3(3), 255-274.
  56. Tajfel, H., ve Turner, J. C. (2004). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. M. J. Hatch ve M. Schultz (Eds.), Organizational identity: A reader içinde (ss. 56-65). Oxford University Press.
  57. Urbinati, N. (2019). Me the people: How populism transforms democracy. Harvard University Press.
  58. Valiyev, O., ve Alptekin, M. (2023). The first Republic of Azerbaijan: A state without a nation. Khazar Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 26(2).
  59. Wodak, R. (2015). The politics of fear: What right-wing populist discourses mean. Sage.
  60. Yıldırım, K. G. F. (Ed.). (2023). Patikalar ve Yollar: Felsefe Araştırmaları II. Sentez Yayınevi.
  61. Zenović, P. (2021). Constitutional patriotism in the context of Habermas’s political philosophy. Prolegomena: Časopis za filozofiju, 20(1), 119-136.
  62. Zhuravlev, O., ve Ishchenko, V. (2020). Exclusiveness of civic nationalism: Euromaidan eventful nationalism in Ukraine. Post-Soviet Affairs, 36(3), 226-245.