Page "Nationalism" Paragraph 23

Civic nationalism lies within the traditions of rationalism and liberalism, but as a form of nationalism it is contrasted with ethnic nationalism.

Membership of the civic nation is considered voluntary, as in Ernest Renan's " daily referendum " formulation in What is a Nation ?.

Civic-national ideals influenced the development of representative democracy in countries such as the United States and France ( see the United States Declaration of Independence of 1776, and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789 ).