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which personal dedication for the sake of the public, far beyond official duties, was essential (Galston, 2001). Group loyalty and social devotion became essential, and citizens tended immediately to patriotism. In the aftermath of the collapse of the Twin Towers, some firefighters in New York City began calling their units the names of World War II air forces, associating themselves with the brave pilots of Midway and the Battle of Britain who flew into action, uncertain which and how many of them would survive another day (Hanson, 2002). All in all, then, although patriotism has been cast in a negative light in contemporary history, it is nevertheless deeply rooted within the positive virtues of loyal citizenship. Even its liberal challengers, who regard intolerance as one of its possible by-products, admit that patriotism is also the source of solidarity, generosity, and, at times, graciousness, gallantry, and chivalry (Keller, 2005).
This study is a journey deep into the heart of patriotism. It begins with a review of the current corpus of research on patriotism, integrating the phenomenon’s definitions and setting the context so as to produce a crisper definition. It does so by extracting the attributes that shape patriotism (loyalty, choice, belongingness, perception of the past, intention, sacrifice) as well as the components that it comprises (national pride, sticking to security because of democratic values, avoiding exit, a republican attitude). These are then analyzed against various historical examples of patriotic behavior.
Once an understanding of the attributes of patriotism and its components has been established, the Israeli case study is introduced. The Israeli case study upon which this research is based offers a scientific opportunity to delve into patriotism set in the context of a long history and through different lifestyles. However, it should be noted that the perspective of this study is not bound by the specific times and places on which the empirical data is based. This book is about patriotism in a large spectrum, crossing boundaries of country, nation, or era. The fundamental objective of this study is to examine the conditions in which patriotism thrives, which the insights from the specific case study will illuminate. In order to properly interpret patriotism in its local context