大学進学塾　灘ゼミのテキスト紹介（ＰＤＦ付）―中央大学 法学部の英語　第１問‟和訳”　直近１２年分過去問演習（２０２３～２０１２）全４４小問

 Across Europe it is populist parties that seem to be having their moment now. The word “populist” is a useful label, but it does not entirely explain the power of these movements. This cannot derive only from their most obvious feature, which is hostility to outsiders. There is also the sense of belonging that they produce by combining religion and nationalism to imagine, and so create, communities.

  This is a deep human instinct. Children spontaneously do it in play. That does not make nationalism or religion primitive, though: in the forms that we know them today both are products of modern society. Both reject the ideal of freedom or self-sufficiency which characterises the contemporary world. _(a)Both see that the individual derives her value from being part of a larger whole, rather than from being a fundamentally autonomous figure who must choose as freely as possible. In this sense, both are profoundly illiberal.   Why is this vision so attractive to so many? The most obvious answer is that it is at least half true. _(b)In a world where the workings of the global economy are entirely unaffected by the sufferings of any individual caught up in them, it is natural to understand that community and belonging are the only lasting sources of value. Two more assertions of the importance of community make the populist vision attractive to some. The first is that you can’t easily choose to leave, or be thrown out. As with traditional families, membership in a populists’ community is not something you can ever wholly resign. The second point is that this kind of belonging isn’t earned by any merit. Since the belonging that populist parties offer hasn’t been earned, it must be awarded on other grounds that have nothing to do with merit, such as birth, skin colour, or religious faith. All three are tangled together in contemporary populism.