Nationalism Vs. Globalism

In the past two years, the rise of right wing conservative leaders around the world has sparked a heated debate and argument around the world. Many point the fingers at the Trump administration and the Brexit vote, both of which sparked a domino effect around the world of right wing, nationalistic leaders. However, this story doesn’t take into account the larger political debate of nationalism or globalism and how this debate has been prevalent in American and world politics for nearly seventy years.

This wave of nationalism has happened at an unprecedented rate. Although the U.S. and UK votes take up the majority of the spotlight, many other campaigns have happened in countries all throughout the world. Right leaning politicians have been elected into the top positions Hungary, Poland, the Philippines, and many groups have attempted to get elected in important positions in France and Denmark. But how did this new wave start, and what are the merits of both arguments?

Before discussing the ramifications of this rise around the world, we need to understand what nationalism is. Many associate the word most closely with the 1930’s and the rise of Germany, Japan, and Italy. However, nationalism isn’t inherently bad. Often it's just a large feeling of patriotism for your country. The large amount of patriotism is also reflected in the policies that many nationalists like and support.

This makes sense in the historical context. During the 1930’s, the world was in the grips of The Great Depression. People were often disenfranchised and demoralised as they lost jobs and had to struggle daily to survive. In many cases, all it took was a highly motivated person to get into a position of power, and at the time of the worst economic depression in modern history, people were very attracted by the message of them first, everyone else, second. While this system is in no means perfect, as people such as Hitler and Mussolini touted this message, so did people like FDR. The implementation of nationalist policies is what makes them effective.

So what are Nationalist policies? Nationalists favor a closed stance to outside relations, with the primary goal to advance their own country’s position. They also favor a similar stance on economics. Many would rather focus on internal job development through the prioritisation of homegrown industry. They do this by taking in less imported goods form the international community, even to the point of imposing tariffs. They also typically take hard line stances on immigration and foreign economies, benefiting others countries economies is often seen as a non priority over benefits to one's own country.

Many now may be wondering, “Ok, you’ve talked about nationalism, what about the other word in the title of this article?” That would be globalism, a rough opposite of nationalism. While nationalism deals with the interests of one's nation, globalism is planning policy on a global bias. Effectively, people formulate policy around the interests of the world, rather than solely on the interests of one's own nation. As said before, nationalism is best remembered during the rise of nations in the 1930’s, globalism began to take shape in the 1940’s. At the time the U.S. was undeniably the most powerful and wealthiest nation on Earth. After the world was decimated by World War ll, the U.S. took it upon itself to rebuild Europe and to stop communism, which was seen as a threat to world peace. The U.S. helped create many globalist organisations throughout the twentieth century, such as the U.N, E.U, and Nato. It also encouraged free trade policies around the world, and thus create a boom in the world economy, that would mostly continue for the next fifty years.

So how did this rise of nationalism come about? Many would attribute it to several factors, but one of the most common is the movement of industry and differing cultures. As mentioned before, movement of people is easier than ever. However, this rapid movement and integration of differing cultures can cause tensions. This is a particularly prevalent issue in Europe, where ethnic identity is a very factor important to national identity. When new cultures come into the society, deep ethnic identity clashing with modern expectations has lead to tensions. In both Europe and America, there is an increasing feeling that if you don’t assimilate, you aren't truly American, or British, or French. This identity tension is exacerbated by the movement of industry, as more jobs in the manufacturing are leaving the West for more profitable countries like China and Vietnam. This movement creates at the very least an illusion that there are more people for less jobs. Both of these tensions lead to the feeling of people that aren't your people are coming to drive you into poverty, which then just leads to a spiral of negative feelings towards everyone that isn't you or closely associated with you.

These feelings of tension and and fear can lead to far reaching effects around the world. The most notable reaction is the rise of equally divided leaders around the world. Many people point to extreme conservatives leaders, such as Trump. However, as the right is in power and extreme, the left has become similarly extreme as well. This greater polarization is a bad thing for government as increasingly many people, politicians, and political parties have adopted a us or them mentality. This makes compromises increasingly rare, and alienates those with moderate views, pulling people towards them towards the far extremes.

This increased tension all through society creates a increasingly polarized and divided global climate. This is a climate that history tells us that we should avoid, as the frice division we see now has in the past been a prelude for some of the deadly conflicts and confrontations between sides. This is why we must look towards mediation and understanding rather than division. The advantages of globalisation have been proven remarkably positive, with the progress of humanity tied together in cooperation, rather than conflict.