chy, despite its shortcomings, was a stable society, proven bynits five hundred years of existence. During the First andnSecond Reich, principalities, towns, and villages within thenbounds of the Austrian and Prussian lands had a largenamount of self-government that frequently made themnvulnerable to French, Swedish, and English imperial ambitions.nGerman Volksheit is an aristocratic as well as a democraticnnotion, since traditionally the relations between domesticnaristocracy and the German people have been organic.nUnlike France or England, Germany never experimentednwith foreign slavery. In Germany, ethnic differences betweennthe local aristocracy and the German people arenminimal; by contrast, in France, Spain, and England thenaristocracy has usually recruited from the Northern Europeannleadership class and not the masses at large. Incidentally,neven now, despite the exactions of the French Revolution,none can see more racial differences between a Frenchnaristocrat and an average Frenchman than between anGerman aristocrat and a German peasant. In Germany thenrelationship between the elites and the commoners hasnalways been rooted in the holistic environment, and as anresult Germany has remained a society barely in need of annelaborate social contract; it has based social relationships onnhorizontal hierarchy and corporate structure, buttressed innaddition by the idea of “equality among the equals.” Byncontrast, French and English society can be defined asnvertically hierarchical and highly stratified; consequendy, itnshould not be surprising that French and English racismsnwere among the most virulent in the world. It is also worthnrecalling that the first eugenic and racial laws in this centurynwere not passed in Germany, but in liberal America andnEngland.nPolitical scientists will one day ponder why the mostnglaring egalitarian impulses appear in France and America,ntwo countries which, until recendy, practiced the mostnglaring forms of racism. Are we witnessing today a peculiarntransactionnform of remorse or national-masochism, or simply annegalitarian form of inclusive racism? Inclusive nationalismnand racism, that manifest themselves in universalism andnglobalism, attempt to delete the difference between thenforeigner and the native, although in reality the foreigner isnalways forced to accept the legal superstructure of his nown”repented” white masters. By ostensibly putting aside itsnracist past, yet by pushing its universalist message to thenextreme, the West paradoxically shows that it is no less racistntoday than it was yesterday. An elitist like Vilfredo Paretonwrote that liberal systems in decline seem to worry morenabout the pedigree of their dogs than the pedigree of theirnoffspring. And a leftist. Serge Latouche, has recently writtennhow liberal racists, while brandishing their ethnic nationalmasochism,nforce liberal values and liberal legal provisionsnupon their “decorative coloreds.”nPeoples and ethnic groups are like boughs and petals; theyngrow and decay, but seldom resurrect. France and Englandnmay evoke their glorious past, but this past will invariablynhave to be adjusted to their new ethnically fractured reality.nLithuania was, several centuries ago, a gigantic continentalnempire; today it is a speck on the map. The obscure Moscownin the 15 th century became the center of the future Russiannsteamroller because other principalities, such as Suzdal ornNovgorod, fantasized more about aesthetics than powernpolitics. Great calamities, such as wars and famines, may benharbingers of a nation’s collapse, but license and demographicnsuicide can also determine the outcome of humanndrama. Post-ideological Europe will soon discover that itncannot forever depend on the whims of technocratic elitesnwho are in search of the chimera of the “common Europeannmarket.” As always, the meaning of carnal soil and preciousnblood will spring forth from those who best know how tonimpose their destiny on those who have already decided tonrelinquish theirs. Or to paraphrase Garl Schmitt, when anpeople abandons politics, this does not mean the end ofnpolitics; it simply means the end of a weaker people. nLearned, thoughtful, and superblynwritten AA -Robert NisbetnNATIONAL REVIEWn”In this probing and thoughful book, ThomasnFleming has begun to address the principalnchallenge to our society and polity.”n-Elizabeth Fox-GenovesenCHRONICLESn”A thoughtful conservative of the old school.n… Progressives and radicals could benefitnfrom grappling with Fleming’s intellectuallynstimulating presentation.”nTHE PROGRESSIVEnISBN: 0-88738-189-8 (cloth) 276 pp. $32.95nMajor credit cards accepted. Call (201) 932-2280nSend prepaid orders to:ntransaction publishersnr» I Department FLn*^—‘ Rutgers-The State Universityntransaction New Brunswick, N.J. 08903nnnJANUARY 1992/25n