Nationalism and patriotism are two of the most powerful forces shaping world history. Though seen by many as two sides of the same coin, they have developed widely different connotations. Nationalism is increasingly seen as destructive, and at the root of the world's bloodiest conflicts; patriotism seems something more benign, a political virtue. How are we to mark the distinction between these two phenomena? How can we rescue patriotism from the tainted grasp of nationalism? Reconstructing the historical the meaning of the terms, Maurizio Viroli shows how the two concepts have been used within specific cultural and ideological contexts. He reviews the political though of Italy, England, and Germany and shows how patriotism and nationalism have fundamentally different roots. Professor Viroli concludes that it is morally unacceptable, and indeed unnecessary, to be a nationalist to defend the values that nationalists hold dear. Patriotism, however, is a valuable source of civic responsibility.

毛里齐奥·维罗里（Maurizio Viroli），1952年生于弗利，毕业于博洛尼亚大学哲学系，1985年获佛罗伦萨欧洲大学学院的社会政治科学博士学位，曾执教于乔治敦大学的新社会研究学院和比萨高等师范学院。现为普林斯顿大学政治学荣休教授、得克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校管理系教授。主要研究领域为：政治理论和政治思想史、经典共和主义和新共和主义，并特别专注于尼可罗·马基雅维利、让-雅克·卢梭政治哲学研究等。主要著作有：《让一雅克·卢梭和“善治社会”》（Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the“Well-Ordered Society”）、《从政治到国家理性》（From Politics to Reason of State）等。

潘亚玲，2007年毕业于复旦大学国际关系学院，获法学博士学位，现为复旦大学美国研究中心副研究员。