Patriotic Attachment, Libidinal Economy, and Cosmopolitan Citizenship: A Qualified Defense of Patriotic Love

Terms such as "fascist" and "nazi" retain light and even comical currency in contemporary pop culture despite the gravity of the events that produced them. Departing from this common usage, I consider within political and psychoanalytic frameworks the normative effects common understandings of fascism and totalitarianism exercise vis-a-vis collective attachments (patriotism, nationalism), and specifically how this discourse shapes notions of citizenship. Working within this political-psychoanalytic model, I analyze the substance behind Barack Obama's Presidential campaign themes of hope and change by way of his Inaugural Address in relation to that of George W. Bush. I conclude by engaging the discourse on cosmopolitan citizenship, considering both how it fits into the framework developed for this project and the relation of Obama's understandings of citizenship and foreign policy to cosmpolitanism.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Political Science

Department dc:contributor.department

Political Science

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2009

Author dc:creator

• Canard, Robert Leigh

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Luke, Timothy W.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Thadhani, Rupa G.
• Watson, R. Janell

• Nationalism
• Citizenship
• Political Theory
• Governance
• Psychoanalytic Theory
• Cosmopolitanism

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

etd-05032009-091827

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/32155