WE live with contradictions at the borders. These days all kinds of things—labor, commodities, corruption, political agendas, terrorism—cross borders, cleverly and craftily. And yet, here and there national walls are being built ever higher. The world is shrinking, the world is becoming more embittered, and it is fitting that we ask: Can nationalism be avoided? Should it be?

Nationalism has history, it has left its trail, and so to answer th