The Nationalism of the Vulnerables

• In Event: Nationalism and Inter-ethnic Conflict

Abstract

Many believe our future will be determined by technological developments. I beg to differ: our future will be determined by human feelings and relationships. The oldest human traits: love, fear, honor, humiliation, hope and despair will continue to motivate human beings and shape their social and political preferences.

Nationalism is back because globalism couldn't offer a political agenda that meets the most basic human needs: the desire to be autonomous and self-governing; the will to live a meaningful life that stretches beyond the self; the need to belong; the desire to be part of a creative community; to feel special and to enjoy a sense (or an illusion) of stability and cross-generational continuity. Nationalism is one of the most potent modern providers of meaning and status and that is the source of its unusual power.

The present political crisis teaches us an important lesson: states can fulfil their social, economic and political roles best when they are grounded in a combination of abstract principles and concrete feelings. In other words, for a social contract to work it must be endowed with particular meanings that motivate individuals not only to obey the rules, but also to carry the burdens of membership and combat social schisms and economic inequalities.
Hyper-globalism brought about a crisis of sovereignty and political trust disempowering states and their citizens. No wonder citizens yearn to regain power and rebuild the nation-state that gave them a place and a voice. Why were liberals oblivious to their cravings? The original sin is the liberal unwillingness to acknowledge the importance of nationalism for the emergence and preservation of political entities. By homogenizing their culture and language and endowing them with a distinct identity, nationalism powered the emergence of modern states. Allowing citizens to 'own' their political institutions it cemented democratic systems grounding them in a feeling of belonging. In this period of political evolution, "my country first!" was the norm rather than the exception.

The stabilization of political systems made nationalism invisible. National identity (and with it cultural and lingual homogeneity) were taken for granted and seemed to demand no further protection. For a while all was quiet on the Western liberal front. During these years states neglected the role of social and economic planning, inviting the market to determine the spread of the costs and benefits. In broad measure, the benefits went to those better off, while the burdens were placed on the shoulders of the less well-off struggling to protect their social status, keep their jobs, and guard the value of their property and the quality of their schools.

With the spread of economic austerity the ideological wind changed. The diversification of the public sphere turned from stimulating and invigorating, to threatening. The majority, especially its most vulnerable members, started to be anxious, realizing the influence of these processes on their ability to ‘cash in’ their national capital.

Ignoring the injustice embedded in the period of hyper-globalism was a fatal political and moral mistake that invited nationalism back in this time not as the project of the elites but of the vulnerable who are now demanding that societies would look inwardly to remedy their own shortcomings, rebuild a cross-class-coalition and protect their worse off members. We must then shed new light on national sentiments; rather than seeing it as the last refuge of the scoundrel we should start thinking of it as the last hope of the needy.

It's easy to dismiss the move of the political pendulum to the national pole as an outburst of unreasonable feelings of fear and hatred, but there is more to it than just the vulgar and dangerous populism and xenophobia. Present day nationalism is grounded both in justified demands for social justice, and in unjustified prejudices and fear. The winners of the coming decades will be those who offer effective ways of meeting the call of justice, while not giving in to narrow-mindedness and bigotry. In short, the winners of the coming decades will be those who would harness nationalism to revive the democratic welfare state it helped build, allowing citizens to regain ownership over their political institutions, and recommit themselves to work for the common good.

Author

• Yael Tamir, Oxford University