Nationalism\u2014placing the interests of one\u2019s own nation above the interests of other nations\u2014has been a powerful force in world affairs for centuries.<\/p>\n
But it seemed on the wane after 1945, when the vast devastation of World War II\u2014a conflict fostered by right wing, nationalist demagogues\u2014convinced people around the globe of the necessity to transcend nationalism and encourage international cooperation.\u00a0\u00a0Indeed, the widespread recognition of the interdependence of nations led to the creation of institutions like the United Nations<\/a>\u00a0(which established a modicum of global governance) and the\u00a0European Union<\/a>\u00a0(which established a regional federation).<\/p>\n Thus, it came as a shock when, during the second decade of the twenty-first century,\u00a0a new generation of nationalists<\/a>, invariably right wing populists, made startling political breakthroughs in their countries.\u00a0\u00a0Feeding on popular discontent with economic stagnation and widespread immigration, nationalist demagogues like Matteo Salvini<\/a>\u00a0of Italy,\u00a0Viktor Orban<\/a>\u00a0of Hungary, and\u00a0Geert Wilders<\/a>\u00a0of the Netherlands stirred up mass support.\u00a0\u00a0In Britain,\u00a0Nigel Farage’s<\/a> new United Kingdom Independence Party spearheaded a campaign for a British exit from the European Union, leading to passage of a June 2016 Brexit referendum.\u00a0\u00a0In France,\u00a0Marine Le Pen<\/a>, leader of the neo-fascist National Front, who focused on what she termed a battle between \u201cpatriots\u201d and \u201cglobalists,\u201d came startlingly close to election as her country\u2019s president in 2017.\u00a0\u00a0Another flamboyant nationalist leader, Brazil\u2019s Jair Bolsonaro<\/a>, campaigning under the slogan \u201cBrazil Above Everything, God Above Everyone,\u201d was elected his nation\u2019s president with 55 percent of the vote in 2018.<\/p>\n Perhaps the best-known of the new crop of nationalist leaders, as well as\u00a0a keen inspiration to them all<\/a>, was Donald Trump, the surprise victor in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.\u00a0\u00a0Adopting the slogan \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d during his election campaign, he spelled out his nationalist views even more plainly at a December 2016 rally of his supporters.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThere is no global anthem,\u201d\u00a0he declared<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cFrom now on it is going to be:\u00a0\u00a0America First.\u00a0\u00a0Okay?\u00a0\u00a0America First.\u00a0\u00a0We are going to put ourselves first.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Contemptuous of the United Nations,\u00a0he told it off<\/a>\u00a0with remarkable bluntness in September 2019.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThe truth is plain to see,\u201d he informed the UN General Assembly.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWise leaders always put the good of their own people and their own country first. . . .\u00a0\u00a0The future does not belong to globalists.\u00a0\u00a0The future belongs to patriots.\u201d<\/p>\n This attack upon the very basis of institutions for international cooperation and global governance was not just rhetorical.\u00a0\u00a0During his presidency,\u00a0Trump had the U.S. government<\/a>\u00a0pull out of the UN Human Rights Council, abandon UNESCO, defund UN relief efforts for Palestinians,\u00a0withdraw from the World Health Organization<\/a>,\u00a0and invoke sanctions against top officials of the International Criminal Court<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0He also withdrew\u00a0the United States from key international\u00a0nuclear arms control<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0climate<\/a>\u00a0agreements.<\/p>\n Recently, however, the nationalist wave appears to be receding.\u00a0\u00a0Although Britain\u2019s ruling Conservative Party took up the Brexit torch, it proved unable to facilitate Britain\u2019s departure from the European Union.\u00a0\u00a0Today, more than four years after nationalists\u2019 referendum victory,\u00a0Brexit talks are stalled<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0In France,\u00a0Le Pen\u2019s National Rally party<\/a>\u00a0(which replaced the National Front) was trounced in the July 2020 local elections, and polls indicated that, in the 2022 presidential election, she would lose once again to the internationalist Emmanuel Macron.\u00a0\u00a0Similarly, in Brazil,\u00a0President Bolsonaro<\/a>\u00a0made almost daily Facebook Live broadcasts this November, encouraging his supporters to back specific candidates in local elections.\u00a0\u00a0Subsequently, most of them went down to defeat.<\/p>\n From the\u00a0standpoint of the new nationalists<\/a>, their most disastrous defeat occurred in the United States, where, in November 2020, President Trump lost his bid for re-election.\u00a0\u00a0Despite numerous nationalist antics during his campaign, such as\u00a0hugging and kissing the American flag<\/a>, Trump was defeated by the Democratic candidate, Joe Biden, by\u00a0more than 6 million votes<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0Moreover, Biden was a strong supporter of multilateralism and, as the\u00a0New York Times<\/em><\/a>\u00a0noted in a front-page article shortly after the election, \u201cmakes no secret of the speed with which he plans to bury `America First\u2019 as a guiding principle of the nation\u2019s foreign policy.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0In fact,\u00a0Biden<\/a>\u00a0was already committed to having the United States resume support of the United Nations, rejoin the World Health Organization, and re-enter nuclear arms control and climate agreements.<\/p>\n Furthermore, global cooperation and institutions retain widespread support among the people of the world.\u00a0\u00a0A\u00a0Pew Research Center<\/a>\u00a0poll of 14,276 people across 14 nations during the summer of 2020 found that 81 percent believed that \u201ccountries around the world should act as part of a global community that works together to solve problems,\u201d while only 17 percent thought that such countries \u201cshould act as independent nations that compete with other countries and pursue their own interests.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0When it came to the United Nations, a\u00a02019 Pew survey<\/a>\u00a0of 34,904 respondents in 32 countries found that a median of 61 percent had a favorable opinion of the world organization.<\/p>\n Most Americans shared these views.\u00a0\u00a0The\u00a0summer 2020 Pew survey<\/a>\u00a0found that, among U.S. respondents, 62 percent had a positive view of the United Nations, compared to 31 percent with a negative one\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Indeed, a\u00a0February 2020 Gallup poll<\/a> discovered that 64 percent of U.S. respondents wanted the United Nations to play a leading or a major role in world affairs.<\/p>\n Polls also found that world public opinion toward the European Union was\u00a0quite positive<\/a>\u2014even, ironically, within Britain, where\u00a0support for Brexit<\/a>\u00a0sank below 40 percent by November 2020.<\/p>\n The continuing popularity of transcending nationalism should not surprise us, for it coincides with the fundamental necessities of today\u2019s world.\u00a0\u00a0After all, how can the coronavirus pandemic, the climate crisis, the nuclear arms race, and numerous other worldwide problems be handled effectively without strengthening global cooperation and governance?<\/p>\n The post Is the Nationalist tide receding?<\/a> first appeared on Dissident Voice<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n