Education, Division, and the Search for Peace: Higher Education at the Crossroads of Globalism, Nationalism, and Nativism

• In Event: A Comparative Perspective of Internationalization and University Mission

Proposal

Globalization, once heralded as the defining paradigm of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, has provoked both hope and backlash. While global interdependence promised dialogue and cooperation, it has also given rise to powerful nationalist and nativist movements that challenge assumptions of cosmopolitan openness. From “America First” rhetoric to Brexit, from resurgent populism in Europe to xenophobic violence in Africa, political life across continents reflects profound tensions between globalist ideals, nationalist loyalties, and nativist identities. Higher education, often celebrated as a bridge-builder across divides, is inevitably caught in these crosscurrents. As the world confronts deepening polarization, questions of how universities can contribute to peace in divided societies have acquired new urgency.

This proposal examines the implications of globalism, nationalism, and nativism for higher education’s role in fostering peace. Drawing on recent scholarship and global policy debates, it argues that universities today are simultaneously sites of conflict and laboratories of reconciliation. They are asked to prepare students for participation in an interconnected world, while also contending with demands to defend national sovereignty or protect local identities. The capacity of higher education to mediate among these competing pressures will help determine whether it serves as a force for division or for peace in the twenty-first century.

Globalism promotes the vision that educational, cultural, and economic issues are best addressed at the level of humanity as a whole. Its manifestations in higher education include international student mobility, cross-border research partnerships, and the proliferation of global rankings and accreditation systems. Yet nationalism and nativism increasingly challenge this vision. Nationalist policies frequently seek to constrain immigration, prioritize domestic research agendas, or reshape curricula to reinforce patriotic narratives. Nativist impulses, meanwhile, emphasize narrower attachments, privileging ethnic, religious, or indigenous belonging and resisting perceived threats from both global homogenization and national majorities. The friction among these ideals not only shapes the orientation of students and institutions but also influences higher education’s ability to act as a peacebuilding enterprise.

Recent studies highlight the intensity of these pressures. A 2023 UNESCO report warns that growing restrictions on academic freedom and mobility are undermining higher education’s role in fostering mutual understanding (UNESCO, 2023). Similarly, Marginson (2022) notes that universities face an “existential tension” between their global missions and the national frameworks within which they operate. In some contexts, governments have attempted to curtail international collaborations viewed as security risks, while in others, nativist groups have mobilized against diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives on campuses. These developments illustrate how higher education is increasingly drawn into wider struggles over identity and belonging, often with direct implications for peace.

The findings of this study, based on thematic analysis of literature from 2016 to 2023, suggest two main impacts. First, students’ orientations toward identity are shifting. Many arrive at universities already strongly aligned with nationalist or group-based identities, which may limit their openness to global perspectives. Others embrace globalism as a path to opportunity and solidarity. The coexistence of these divergent outlooks within campuses produces fragmented communities where dialogue is strained. As recent work on student belonging suggests, polarization in the wider society tends to be reproduced within higher education (Krejsler & Pongratz, 2023). For student affairs professionals, the challenge is to create spaces where conflicting worldviews can be engaged constructively—an essential but difficult precondition for education’s contribution to peace.

Second, higher education institutions themselves face mounting pressures on their missions. Nationalist and nativist demands often push universities to alter curricula, restrict international exchange, or narrow diversity programming. In the United States, recent campaigns to limit the teaching of race and gender reflect a broader nativist challenge to pluralism. In Hungary and Turkey, governments have tightened control over universities in the name of national sovereignty (Erőss, 2022). Meanwhile, in parts of Africa and Asia, restrictions on international student mobility undermine higher education’s potential to cultivate cross-border understanding (Altbach & de Wit, 2023). Institutions thus become contested spaces where global, national, and nativist logics compete, with outcomes that directly affect education’s contribution to peace and division.

These dynamics raise fundamental questions about higher education’s purposes. Is its role to cultivate global citizens committed to cross-cultural understanding, or to form loyal national subjects? Should universities prioritize local and indigenous identities, or should they privilege cosmopolitan values? Can they balance these commitments in ways that foster peace rather than exacerbate division? The answers are not merely theoretical: they shape admissions policies, research priorities, student services, and campus culture.

To respond, higher education must embrace a peacebuilding mission that neither denies local attachments nor abandons global commitments. Universities need to strengthen intercultural dialogue and peace education, providing students with tools to navigate differences constructively. They must also defend academic freedom against efforts to politicize or narrow their missions, recognizing that open inquiry and diversity are prerequisites for sustainable peace. Finally, international collaboration—though increasingly fraught—remains essential. Cross-border partnerships in research and education not only advance knowledge but also build relational infrastructures that can mitigate conflict and division.

The interplay of globalism, nationalism, and nativism reveals both risks and opportunities. On one hand, rising exclusionary pressures threaten to reduce universities to instruments of division. On the other, the recognition of these challenges underscores the urgent need for higher education to function as a mediator and bridge-builder. By critically re-examining their purposes and practices, universities can resist co-optation by narrow agendas and reaffirm their role in cultivating understanding, justice, and peace in a divided world.

The intent of this paper is therefore to spark dialogue about how higher education can reimagine its responsibilities under conditions of fragmentation and polarization. As societies confront the entangled crises of inequality, nationalism, and global interdependence, universities have the potential to serve not merely as transmitters of knowledge but as architects of peace.

Authors

• Tong Wu, Beijing Language and Culture University

• Tutaleni I Asino