The Tainted Source

Book excerpt: An ideology is sweeping Europe and the world which threatens democracy and the rule of law. The post-national ideology, which posits that nation-states are no longer capable of running their own affairs in a modern, interdependent economy, confuses the constitution of a state with the power of its government, and ignores the importance of the sense of community essential to any democratic debate. A rigorous synthesis of historical and philosophical arguments, THE TAINTED SOURCE is a powerful appeal in favour of the constitutional foundations of the liberal order. Post-national structures - multinational companies, 'region-states' and supranational organisations such as the European Union - are corrosive of liberal values, to such an extent that John Laughland makes it devastatingly clear that the post-national ideology formed a crucial core of Nazi economic and political thinking. Like the European ideology of today, it was predicted on dissolving the nation-state and the liberal order.