7 - Believers

Summary

While it provides support not only for prison abolitionism but also for anarchism, the liberal and cosmopolitan version of natural law theory this book defends need not deny that people will sometimes in fact opt to welcome ties with each other rooted in history and heritage. And of course it can offer insights not only in relation to an envisioned stateless society but also in the context of contemporary statist politics. But liberalism and natural law theory rightly prompt skepticism regarding affirmations of national identity. Chapter 7 suggests that the putative liberal Richard Rorty’s attempt to articulate a liberal American patriotism provides a useful case study–and proves ultimately unsuccessful.