Global Nationalism - Ideas, Movements and Dynamics in the Twenty-First Century

The twenty-first century is witnessing a truly transnational revival of a very old set of ideas. Despite romantic attachments to old symbols, these late-modern nationalism movements are not simply replicas of the previous two waves of nationalism in the 1860s and 1920s. Nor is it true that today's nationalism movements want simply to return to the past and effect a nationalist 1930s-style retrenchment. From Putin's macho revivalism, through to Trump's shocking victory and Xi's strongman regionalism, nationalists engage with the economic context of our time and address issues born of globalization. Crucially, in their vision for international relations they seek the destruction of key international norms in a drive to restore a vision of sovereignty predicated on a survivalist understanding of state power.

Global Nationalism, edited and framed by Pablo de Orellana and Nicholas Michelsen, brings together the latest research by up-and-coming early career researchers and scholars. Beginning with a succinct history and typology of contemporary nationalism and its predecessors, this book offers analysis of several cases of contemporary nationalism, examining how specific movements define identity, address grievances and propose identity-based solutions. Key themes and lessons emerge from the study of a variety of cases, from the very ideas animating nationalist thought, to their expression in a wide variety of nationalist movements around the world. The reflections on the ecosystem of nationalist ideas and movements offered in this volume are a vital starting point in the study of contemporary nationalism as a global twenty-first-century phenomenon.

Contents:

Introduction (Pablo de Orellana and Nicholas Michelsen)
 
Nationalist Theories and Concepts

• The Repetitions of Nationalism: Ontology, Fantasy and Jouissance (Moran M Mandelbaum)
• Materialising the Nation (Joel Chong)
• Viral Nationalism: The Return of Ethno-Nationalist Ideas Through the New Right (Nick Michelsen and Pablo de Orellana)

Nationalist Dynamics

• Bringing the Armageddon: Carl Schmitt and surging nationalism in South Asia (Hassan Zaheer)
• Nationalism as a Site of Contestation for Political Legitimacy in Thailand (Bavo Stevens)
• The Co-Production of Civic Nationalist Conflict: Spain and Catalonia (Javier Carbonell Castañer)
• The Return of the Rising Sun? The National and International Dimensions of Japan's Contemporary Nationalism (Daniel Rueda)

Liminality and Identity in Late Modern Nationalism

• Minority Groups and Nationalism: A Sociological Perspective on How Ethiopian Jews Construct and Configure Identity (Abrham Yohannes Gebremichael)
• Manufacturing National Heroes: Cosmonauts and Post-Soviet identity in Putin's Russia (Julie Patarin-Jossec)
• Responding to Failed Nationalist State-Building: Anglophone Secessionism in Cameroon (Ruth Mireille Manga Edimo)
• Tribalism and National Identity in Qatar: History and Emerging Trends (Zarqa Parvez)

Pablo de Orellana and Nicholas Michelsen's collaboration focuses on researching the history of contemporary nationalist thought, particularly the nationalist movement known as the New Right. Applying critical intellectual history methods, they have published on the international ambitions of this movement, their vision on identity-determined truth, as well as race and survival.

Pablo de Orellana is a Lecturer in International Relations at King's College London. His interdisciplinary research interests include diplomacy, nationalism, history of ideas and the relationship between art and conflict. In happier times, instead of researching nationalism, he drives his vespa and pursues poetic and archaeological passions. He is the author of The Road to Vietnam (IB Tauris), and The Hand of the Prince (forthcoming, Manchester University Press).

Nicholas Michelsen is a Reader in International Relations at King's College London. His research interests include International Relations, Strategic Communications and Informational Conflict, Insurgency, Extremism and Terrorism, Twentieth Century European Philosophy, Transnational movements and Nationalism. He is Editor-in-Chief of New Perspectives Journal, and author of Politics and Suicide (Routledge), and co-editor of Pessimism in International Relations (Palgrave).