Map of political ideologies in Europe, 1 June 2018
Neo-nationalism, sometimes known as populist nationalism or national-populism is a form of nationalism which emerged in the mid-2010s in Europe and North America. It is associated with right-wing populism, anti-globalization, anti-environmentalism, nativism, protectionism, opposition to immigration, opposition to Islam, and Euroscepticism where applicable. Many of its proponents are influenced by neoreactionary thought to some degree. Since 2015/16 national-populism has turned out to be one of the most influential forces in Western politics.
Notable expressions of neo-nationalism include the election of Republican Donald Trump as President of the United States in the 2016 and 2024 presidential election, the Brexit referendum in the United Kingdom and leadership of Viktor Orban in Hungary, Matteo Salvini and Giorgia Meloni in Italy as well as Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil. In Poland the Law and Justice party shares some populist-nationalist traits.
History[]
Origins[]
Map of the 2015 migrant crisis
Neo-nationalism emerged as a populist and nativist rejection of the neoliberal world order which had been established following the end of the Cold War. Many members of the working class felt that the international status quo imposed by the global elites was unfair, while nativists opposed free trade, the service economy, neoliberal trading arrangements, and liberalized immigration policies. There were several major causes of neo-nationalism:
- The inability of liberal and social democratic governments to deal with the long-term economic effects of the Great Recession on the lower and middle classes
- Opposition to the European Union's power over its member states
- The migrant crisis of 2015 onwards, in which predominantly Muslim refugees from war-torn countries such as Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya and economic migrants from Kosovo, Albania, and Eritrea, stoked fears of multiculturalism in nation-states such as Poland, Hungary, Italy, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Austria.
- The rare infiltration of returning Islamic State foreign fighters into Europe, which resulted in several terrorist attacks, led to many countries seeking to impose stricter immigration restrictions, or even bans on Muslim immigration
- The clash between local customs and traditions (including religious traditions) with alien, outside trends
- The clash between the nation-state against supranational, liberal regimes like the EU or NAFTA
2016[]
2016 was the most important year in the rise of the far-right, neo-nationalist movement worldwide. 2016 was a year into the European migrant crisis, at the height of the Syrian Civil War, and an election year in the United States. On 23 June 2016, cries for a referendum on continued EU membership in the United Kingdom led to Prime Minister David Cameron calling a "Brexit" referendum, staking his career on its failure and Britain's continued EU membership. The UK Independence Party, which was strongly anti-multiculturalism and nationalist, campaigned aggressively in favor of leaving the EU, while many members of the ruling UK Conservative Party supported the "Leave" campaign due to the alleged lack of return on financial investments made in the EU, and far-left members of the UK Labor Party supported an end to globalism by leaving supranational organizations. Ultimately, the Brexit referendum passed by a narrow margin, and it was a victory for populist parties such as UKIP and Britain First, while the liberal-conservative Cameron resigned in favor of the more right-wing Theresa May.
On 15 July 2016, a failed coup in Turkey by pro-democracy military men failed to overthrow Recep Tayyip Erdogan's authoritarian AKP regime, leading to Erdogan cracking down on dissent in a series of purges which detained around 16,000 people and suspended over 48,000 government officials and workers due to suspicions that they were involved with the coup.
On 31 August 2016, Workers' Party of Brazil leader and President of Brazil Dilma Rousseff was impeached due to her involvement with the Petrobras corruption scandal, and her vice-president Michel Temer, of the big tent PMDB party, became president. Leftists decried his rise to power as a "coup".
United States presidential election[]
On 8 November 2016, in one of the most controversial elections in United States history, Republican Party presidential candidate and wealthy businessman Donald Trump was elected President through winning in the electoral college, although he lost the popular vote. Trump had campaigned on a populist and nationalist platform, promising to "Make America Great Again" and opposing political correctness, illegal immigration, and many free trade agreements. Trump was a critic of feminism, Islam, minorities, multiculturalism, and US alliances, believing that the United States gave too much aid to other countries and received nothing in return. He also sought to build a border wall on the Mexican border to keep illegal immigrants out of the country and to make Mexico pay for the wall, accusing the illegal immigrants of being thieves, murderers, and rapists; another controversial policy which he proposed was a ban on people from several Muslim-majority countries from entering the country, claiming that Islam was at war with America and that the arrival of immigrants or Syrian refugees would allow for the Islamic State to infiltrate America. Trump's opponent, the Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton, emphasized her political experience, denounced Trump and many of his supporters as bigots, sought to continue Barack Obama's racial, LGBT, and women's rights policies, and sought to create inclusive capitalism. Trump was popular among many Americans because he spoke his mind (especially on Twitter, as well as at campaign rallies) - no matter how vulgar or controversial his statements were - and because he promised to stand up for America's "forgotten people" and serve as their voice in the fight against the establishment. Promising to "drain the swamp" of corrupt politicians and make America great again, he took advantage of scandals within the Clinton campaign to win over former "blue wall" states and win the Electoral College in a massive upset.
Aftermath of the election[]
Matteo Salvini's Trump-esque campaign sign
Trump's campaign, which had been backed by far-right European politicians such as UKIP leader Nigel Farage, Russian president Vladimir Putin (who had the Internet Research Agency publish pro-Trump propaganda on social media and had the SVR hack the Democratic National Convention to create scandals), and Italian Lega Nord leader Matteo Salvini, sent shockwaves throughout the world, setting off a chain reaction of right-wing victories worldwide. 2016 saw Austria elect right-wing Austrian People's Party candidate Sebastian Kurz as President, while his party forms a coalition with the far-right Freedom Party of Austria.
Brown wave[]
2017 saw the right-wing populist National Rally of France come in second place against Emmanuel Macron's centrist En Marche! party; the traditional parties of the country - the Socialist Party of France and The Republicans - did not make it to the runoff. The parliamentary elections in Germany saw the far-right Alternative for Germany gain a large number of seats in the Bundestag, while Mauricio Macri's conservative government remained in power in Argentina. Chile also elected a conservative, Sebastian Pinera, as president, occurring as a part of the "Conservative wave" in Latin America. At the same time, Hungary's populist movement grew, with the fascist Jobbik party even banning Islam in a town in which a Jobbik member was mayor. Trump's election led to various right-wing populist leaders emulating him as well, including Lega Nord leader Matteo Salvini designing his election sign after his, and Brazilian politician Jair Bolsoaro using the same inflammatory rhetoric.
Hungarian leader Viktor Orban and Italian leader Matteo Salvini, who, according to CNN, had a political "bromance"
In 2018, Sweden held parliamentary elections, in which the fascist Sweden Democrats gained a large representation in the Riksdag, worrying those who believed that socialist Sweden would continue to serve as a role model to the West. In Italy, a major political shift occurred when the strongly populist Five Star Movement won the largest number of seats in Parliament, campaigning on an anti-immigration, environmentalist, pro-direct democracy, anti-corruption, and pro-youth campaign. The party formed a coalition government with the far-right Lega Nord party, leading to Italy pursuing an anti-immigrant and Eurosceptic course. CNN wrote of the dangers of a "bromance" between Hungary and Italy, whose leaders Viktor Orban and Matteo Salvini hit it off at their first meeting and promised to meet again, as they shared radically anti-immigrant and Eurosceptic views. Colombia also elected a right-wing candidate, Ivan Duque, with the Democratic Center of Colombia coming to power after years of social democratic Party of the U rule. Between 2011 and 2018, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay switched from having left-wing or center-left governments to center-right or right-wing governments, coinciding with the Brexit in the UK, the advance of the National Rally in France, Alternative for Germany in Germany, the Five Star Movement and Lega Nord in Italy, the Freedom Party of Austria in Austria, Fidesz in Hungary, Law and Justice in Poland, and Sweden Democrats in Sweden. This was also partially owed to the growth of the evangelical community of Latin America in size and power, as they were staunch supporters of social conservatism.
Leftist reaction[]
Neo-nationalism emerged as a reactionary pushback against the rise of gay rights, feminism, racial equality (especially Black Lives Matter in the United States), immigrant rights, political correctness, government intervention in the economy, and the liberalism which had peaked in the immediate aftermath of the Great Recession. The rise of populism on the right also led to the rise of populism on the left as a counterweight to right-wing populism. In the United States, the election of Trump and his presidency led to the rapid growth of Democratic Socialists of America and other left-wing organizations, widespread grassroots protests and demonstrations, and a leftward shift in the Democratic Party in response to the rightward shift of the Republicans. Politicians such as Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Andrew Gillum, Stacey Abrams, Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and other progressive politicians became even more popular among the youth due to the increasing partisanship in the United States, with the country's citizens becoming polarized between the progressives and conservatives, and little room for moderates in between. Neo-nationalist rallies in the USA and elsewhere were often met with counter-protests, and, in the USA, the midterm elections of November 2018 saw a "blue wave" carry the US House of Representatives, turning heavily conservative Orange County, California entirely blue in a historic first, as well as winning seats in rural Oklahoma and Iowa. Neo-nationalism helped to mobilize not only the nativists, nationalists, and xenophobes who supported the movement, but also the progressives, liberals, socialists, and even moderate centrists and conservatives who opposed it. In the aftermath of Brexit, UKIP lost its parliamentary representation due to a lack of support in its radical policies once the referendum was over. In the USA, suburban and college-educated people voted Democratic in November 2018 due to their disgust with Trump's personality and unwise leadership, winning over suburban areas which were typically Republican strongholds (such as Staten Island and the Hudson River Valley in New York, Ocean County in New Jersey, and Orange County in California). The movement also served to radicalize those who opposed it, leading to the rise in left-wing organizations such as Antifa, the MeToo movement, and the Never Again movement.
Covid pandemic[]
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-21, populist nationalist politicians were spreading various conspiracy theories regarding the virus. Sometimes they presented it as overhyped, or in Bolsonaro's words "a little flu". Sometimes they claimed that it was a Chinese biological weapon, or was invented by "globalist elites" to reduce the Earth's population or to carry on a Great Reset and introduce a worldwide dictatorship of unelected experts.
Most neo-nationalists were staunchly opposed to lockdowns, Covid vaccines and masks mandates. After the pandemic they moved to opposing the idea of "15 minute cities" as lockdown in disguise.
Ukraine war[]
When Russia attacked Ukraine in 2022, populist nationalists' responses varied from neutral somewhat favourable to the invasion. Radical exponents of the ideology repeated the talking points of Russian propaganda, while more moderate politicians claimed to be supporters of immediate peace. Both categories opposed Western military support for Ukraine.