Public Reason, Public Schooling, and Walls

“Those who raise anti-immigration walls, like the one California has built on the Mexican border, think that they will be able to preserve their privileges large and small if, and for so long as, only they enjoy them. They bring out one of the most flagrant contradictions that afflict our affluent democratic societies: that which sees, on the one hand, a refined culture that shares universalistic and cosmopolitan values and that nonetheless remains the appanage of a minority, often a snobbish one; but that sees, on the other hand, a widely diffused popular culture that, though intoxicated by global consumerism, is terrified by globalization and objectively weak in front of the challenges arising through the opening of borders to cheap labor.” — Nadia Urbinati

This week, our featured book is The Antiegalitarian Mutation: The Failure of Institutional Politics in Liberal Democracies, by Nadia Urbinati and Arturo Zampaglione, translated by Martin Thom. Today, we are happy to present an excerpt from the first chapter, in which Urbinati and Zampaglione discuss public reason and public education, the significance of anti-immigration walls, and the “new nationalisms” that arise with the unchecked growth of a financial and economic global power.

Don’t forget to enter our book giveaway for a chance to win a free copy of The Antiegalitarian Mutation!