Tim Soutphommasane

Is Australia a racist country? The question persists, in spite of our multicultural success. Race continues to be a lightning rod of public debate. Australia may be relaxed and comfortable about many things, but it remains unsettled about matters of race andculture. The Racial Discrimination Act is Australia’s first federal human rights legislation. A landmark law, the RDA has had a profound impact on race relations. Published to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the RDA, this book provides a considered, accessible reflection on Australian racism, the limits of free speech, the moral and philosophical dimensions of bigotry, and the role of the RDA in our society’s response to discrimination.

Many earnest books were published about multiculturalism in the 1980s and 1990s, mainly feel-good stories that corresponded with the agreed bipartisan multicultural policy that existed. This perception, if not reality, shifted markedly in 2001, indirectly because of Tampa and 9/11, but also because the Howard government was ambivalent, if not downright hostile, to the policy. In Don’t Go Back to Where You Came From: Australia’s Multicultural Genius, Tim Southphommasane stakes a claim for the overwhelming success of multiculturalism in Australia, particularly when compared to European countries. As he puts it: ‘The key is that multiculturalism has always been a citizenship policy and has always been about integration. But it has only rarely been understood this way: for supporters, it has been just about lifestyle and pho/laksa/kebabs/souvlaki; for its critics, it has been about cultural relativism, ethnic ghettos, reverse racism and the introduction of Sharia law’.

What does it mean to be a citizen in a multicultural society? And what role must patriotism play in defining our relationship with our country and fellow citizens? In The Virtuous Citizen Tim Soutphommasane answers these questions with a critical defence of liberal nationalism. Considering a range of contemporary political debates from Europe, North America and Australia, over issues including multiculturalism, national history, civic education and immigration, Soutphommasane argues that a love of country should be valued alongside tolerance, mutual respect and public reasonableness as a civic virtue. A liberal form of patriotism, grounded in national identity, is, if anything, essential for political stability in a diverse society. This book is required reading not only for political theorists and philosophers but also for researchers and professionals in political science, sociology, history and public policy.

After a tumultuous few months that have seen an election-winning prime minister replaced as leader by Australia's first woman prime minister, many people are questioning what Labor stands for, and wondering what it should stand for. In this book, young, prominent thinkers, players and commentators - as well as some experienced politicians - tackle these questions in frank, personal and often surprising ways.

Affronted by the xenophobic nationalists who stalked the land during the Howard years, many progressive Australians have rejected a love of country, forgetting that there is a patriotism of the liberal left that at different times has advanced liberty, egalitarianism, and democratic citizenship. Tim Soutphommasane, a first-generation Australian and political philosopher who has journeyed from Sydney's western suburbs to Oxford University, re-imagines patriotism as a generous sentiment of democratic renewal and national belonging. In accessible prose, he explains why our political leaders will need to draw upon the better angels of patriotism if they hope to inspire citizens for nation-building, and indeed persuade them to make sacrifices in the hard times ahead. As we debate the twenty-first century challenges of reconciliation and a republic, citizenship and climate change, Reclaiming Patriotism proposes a narrative we have to have.