A tribalist doesn’t ask himself whether his tribe is more deserving of contested land or resources than a competing tribe. It’s his tribe, and that’s reason enough to fight. Above the level of the superorganism, there is no right or wrong, only victory or defeat.

A nation is simply a tribe on a larger scale. But good and evil are individual choices. That’s the difference.

However, the notions of good and evil can be co-opted to buttress the mega-tribalism of the nation-state. How to undo this? Insist that a state must justify its existence, demonstrating its superiority somehow instead of merely asserting it as a given.