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Neo-nationalism

Type of nationalism that rose in the mid-2010s

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Through Nationalism, Globalization and Protectionism

Neo-nationalism is associated with several positions such as right-wing populism, anti-globalization, nativism, protectionism, opposition to immigration, Islamophobia in non-Muslim-majority countries, and Euroscepticism, where applicable. With globalisation and the idea of a single nation, neo-nationalists see the problems of identification and threatened identities. They call for the protection of symbolic heritage, like art and folk traditions, which is also common for cultural nationalism.

Particularly notable expressions of new nationalism include the vote for Brexit in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum and the 2016 election of Donald Trump as the president of the United States. Several neo-nationalist politicians have come to power or run strongly during the 2010s and 2020s, including Giorgia Meloni in Italy, Marine Le Pen in France, Rodrigo Duterte and Bongbong Marcos in the Philippines, and Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil.

Origins

Neo-nationalism is considered a pan-West European phenomenon. It has its origins in the post-Cold War period and the changes that the third phase of globalization brought to the West European states. The European Union integration and enlargement gave rise to a series of economic, social, and political changes causing uncertainties on an individual and collective level. Empowerment of the European Union by extending its members and the referendums on European Constitution formed the idea of a transnational quasi-state and a global nation under liberal democracy as the single political ideology that governs that transnational state. After the referendum on the Treaty to establish a Constitution for Europe was rejected, the delegation of national sovereignty to the European Union was seen by the neo-nationalists as a strategic act that aims at accumulation of power that undermines states’ national sovereignty and their right to self-determination.

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