Summary
In Narratives of Civic Duty, Aram Hur investigates the impulse behind a sense of civic duty in democracies. Why, she asks, do some citizens feel a responsibility to vote, pay taxes, or take up arms in defense of one's country? Through comparing democratic societies in East Asia and elsewhere, Hur shows that the sense of obligation to be a good citizen—upon which the resilience of a democracy depends—emerges from a force long thought detrimental to democracy itself: national attachments.
Awards
- Winner, 2023 Robert A. Dahl Award for "scholarship of the highest quality on the subject of democracy" from the American Political Science Association. It is the first book on East Asian democracies to join the Dahl list, and only the second time, in nearly half a century, that a book on Korean politics has won a disciplinary-level book award from APSA.
- Short List, 2023 APSA Luebbert Award for best book in Comparative Politics
Praise
"Hur's incisive exploration of what shapes civic duty compels us to rethink assumptions that strong nationalism is detrimental to liberal democracy. The array of qualitative and quantitative methods she uses makes this book a model of comparative research done well."
Celeste Arrington, The George Washington University, author of Accidental Activists
"By theorizing civic duty as a potentially positive and moral dimension of nationalism, Hur complicates the prevailing assumption that nationalism is detrimental to liberal democracy. A thoughtful, compelling book."
Stephan Haggard, University of California, San Diego, author of Dictators and Democrats
"Aram Hur’s Narratives of Civic Duty: How National Stories Shape Democracy in Asia is an impressive, theoretically rich, and empirically strong contribution to the field of comparative politics."
2023 Dahl Award Committee: Ruth Dassonneville (Chair) of the University of Montreal, Anna Gryzmala-Busse of Stanford University, and Cynthia McClintock of George Washington University.
Celeste Arrington, The George Washington University, author of Accidental Activists
"By theorizing civic duty as a potentially positive and moral dimension of nationalism, Hur complicates the prevailing assumption that nationalism is detrimental to liberal democracy. A thoughtful, compelling book."
Stephan Haggard, University of California, San Diego, author of Dictators and Democrats
"Aram Hur’s Narratives of Civic Duty: How National Stories Shape Democracy in Asia is an impressive, theoretically rich, and empirically strong contribution to the field of comparative politics."
2023 Dahl Award Committee: Ruth Dassonneville (Chair) of the University of Montreal, Anna Gryzmala-Busse of Stanford University, and Cynthia McClintock of George Washington University.