Reclaiming Patriotism

Affronted by the xenophobic nationalists who stalked the land during the Howard years, many progressive Australians have rejected a love of country, forgetting that there is a patriotism of the liberal left that at different times has advanced liberty, egalitarianism, and democratic citizenship.

Tim Soutphommasane, a first-generation Australian and political philosopher who has journeyed from Sydney's western suburbs to Oxford University, re-imagines patriotism as a generous sentiment of democratic renewal and national belonging. In accessible prose, he explains why our political leaders will need to draw upon the better angels of patriotism if they hope to inspire citizens for nation-building, and indeed persuade them to make sacrifices in the hard times ahead.

As we debate the twenty-first century challenges of reconciliation and a republic, citizenship and climate change, Reclaiming Patriotism proposes a narrative we have to have.

About the Author

Tim Soutphommasane is a Doctoral Researcher in Political Theory at the University of Oxford. A 26-year-old first-generation Australian, he has worked as a freelance journalist and has written extensively for the British and Australian press, including the Financial Times, the Guardian, the Spectator, the Australian, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age. A member of the Australian Labor Party, Tim worked on the speech-writing staff of former New South Wales Premier Bob Carr and on the staff of Kevin Rudd during the 2007 federal election campaign. Of Chinese and Lao extraction, Tim was raised in the southwest suburbs of Sydney, and holds degrees from Sydney and Oxford universities.