Nationalism and Global Solidarities: Alternative Projections to Neoliberal Globalisation

The institutions and structures of modern globalization and the modern nation-state were formed through concurrent processes and have changed in relation to each other. This simple statement goes directly against those who would treat nationalism and globalism as the antithetical outcomes of two succeeding epochs. Likewise it challenges those who would narrowly define globalization as that which undermines the nation-state. However, it still leaves much to argue about. The apparently contradictory practices and ideologies of globalism and nationalism have been in tension ever since nation-states formed in the nineteenth century as part of globalizing system of states. In the present century these tensions have become even more pronounced with many writers from both the Left and the Right proclaiming that globalization is effecting a tidal wave of change, leaving the nation-state behind in its wake. Despite the immensity of the change, it is becoming clearer that globalization is not drowning everything. It is certainly possible that processes of globalization may eventually undermine modern forms of nation-state sovereignty, but there is no inevitability about such an outcome, neither in logic nor in the day-to-day details of how power operates around the world. What is happening to the nation-state under conditions of intensified globalization, how should we respond? This is the first problematic addressed by the book. We have seen both nationalist revivals and reassertion of movements from below - from neo-tribalism and new forms of traditionalism to anti-globalization movements and new kinds of grass-roots politics. These suggest the need for a very different approach -different from the seamless 'world of flows', or technologically-driven 'network society' suggested by some. Yet the extent of 'disorder' can be exaggerated. A number of otherwise sophisticated writers have found themselves arguing that the postmodern world has become increasingly fragmented without having an account of the level at which fragmentation takes place, and the level at which reintegration is occurring. Globalization cannot be understood simply as processes of disorder, fragmentation or rupture. Nor, on the other hand, is it simply a force of homogenization. This leads us to the second problematic of the book. Globalism heralds a new era of corporate globalization, but at the same time it generates new foundations for identification and mobilization. Just as classical imperialism generated anti-imperialist movements and anti-colonial nationalisms, so today's 'empire' generates new frameworks for identification and mobilization. It seems that globalizing social forces generate frameworks beyond the national, but in the process create new foundations for nationalism. The book asks the following questions. Are we entering a new phase in the relationship between internationality and nationalism, or is nationalism rendered irredeemably contradictory, and anachronistic? Does nationalism re-enter by the back door, renewed and invigorated, whether as a partner of globalism or as its bete noir? What are the contemporary bases for a politics of solidarity in a globalizing world? These questions run implicitly through all the chapters.