Is there something new in ‘neo-nationalism’? Right-wing populism in historical perspective

Virtual Lecture Series & Early Career Networking Hour. Students need to register beforehand.

Annotation:
"What we may be witnessing is not just the end of the Cold War,” wrote the American political scientist Francis Fukuyama in 1989, “or the passing of a particular period of postwar history, but the end of history as such” (“The End of History?”, The National Interest no. 16 (Summer 1989):4). In the new world order, emerging as history came to an end, liberal democracy and integrated global markets would be the norm, Fukuyama argued, gradually undermining old political ideologies and structures such as nationalism and the nation-state. This proved, of course, to be a mere illusion, as we so memorably experienced in 2016 with the Brexit referendum in Britain and Donald Trump’s election to the American precedency. These striking events, in conjunction with growing popularity of various right-wing populist parties around the world and more belligerent Russia and China, driven by new sense of national pride, brought nationalism back into political arena. This wave of ethnonationalism has caught the attention of political commentators who have described it as something new and unexpected, hence it has been termed “neo-nationalism”.
In this lecture, I will argue that there is essentially nothing new in this recent nationalist surge, because it is based on ideas that hark back to the 19th century. Since the emergence of modern nationalism, the idea of the nation has been built on conflicting visions of nationality, where some view it is a political choice, while for others, nations are primordial and perennial units, thus predetermined and beyond human control. The latter view has persisted into the 21st century through a period of growing globalization and intensified integration in Europe. The question is why it did not disappear with the “end of history” and how it has been effectively used by right-wing populists to mobilize support for their cause.