Q&A 4, First Answer

My question is: Is one ever morally obligated to favour one's own country, or entities hailing from it?

I think so. If one's country has engaged in a conflict with another country, and the primary viewpoint of the other country is clearly in the wrong (as in the case of Germany in WWII, for example - although in that case more than one nation was on each side of the conflict), then one is morally obligated to support one's country. I do not think that this is really patriotism, as it relies not on the identities of the countries in question but rather on their moral standings; if one's own country was at war with another and was itself primarily in the wrong, one would be obligated to support the other country, although not necessarily openly depending on the risk involved and the potential benefits for the morally correct side.

Furthermore, there may be instances in which patriotism, or at least the appearance of patriotism, may be beneficial in the long run as well. An example of this might be if one's country was under very strong outside pressure to change its governmental structure to, say, an oligarchy. In the case of America, which is a democracy (at least in theory; the sad bit here is that America already resembles an oligarchy in many, if not most, respects), public demonstrations of patriotism might inspire people to, through a sense of cultural pride, resist that pressure. Of course, this would doubtless carry negative consequences later, as one would have to undo the sense of superiority that such patriotism tends to instill, but during the actual event of government reformation/nonreformation the appearance of patriotism would be beneficial.