The Nationalist Revival Trade, Immigration, and the Revolt Against Globalization
Why has nationalism come roaring back?
Trump in America, Brexit in the U.K., anti-EU parties in Italy, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, and Hungary, and nativist or authoritarian leaders in Turkey, Russia, India, and China—Why has nationalism suddenly returned with a vengeance? Is the world headed back to the fractious conflicts between nations that led to world wars and depression in the early 20th Century? Why are nationalists so angry about free trade and immigration? Why has globalization become a dirty word?
Based on travels in America, Europe, and Asia, veteran political analyst John B. Judis found that almost all people share nationalist sentiments that can be the basis of vibrant democracies as well as repressive dictatorships. Today’s outbreak of toxic "us vs. them" nationalism is an extreme reaction to utopian cosmopolitanism, which advocates open borders, free trade, rampant outsourcing, and has branded nationalist sentiments as bigotry. Can a new international order be created that doesn’t dismiss what is constructive about nationalism? As he did for populism in The Populist Explosion, Judis looks at nationalism from its modern origins in the 1800s to today to find answers.
“Excellent and compact book.... A person of the left, Judis specializes in speaking truth to liberals, something he also did in his earlier The Populist Explosion. He thinks it’s important for progressives to understand why so many are drawn to Trump and the far right in Europe.” —E.J. Dionne Jr., Washington Post
“Methodically and with data widely drawn, Judis points the finger at a globalization that has seen once well-rewarded jobs shipped overseas; at immigration and the cultural and economic resentment it stirs; and at terrorism and the fear of the other it provokes. He also reminds us that ethnic nationalism is hardly new in the United States—that the melting pot self-conception of the American nation is relatively recent and that for more than a century the American people conceived their country in strictly white, northern European and Protestant terms. Wisely, he argues that nationalism does not have an innate political color, that it can shade right or left depending on the ideological pigment with which it is combined.” —Jonathan Freedland, New York Times Book Review
“John B. Judis does not see a death-match between imperial liberalism on the one hand and nationalism on the other. His book argues that elites have overreached, both in the U.S. and in Europe, in advocating large-scale immigration and trade deals and foreign interventions. As a result, Mr. Judis—a former New Republic editor who has long supported progressive and pro-labor economic policies—calls for a synthesis between liberalism and nationalism.” —Jason Willick, Wall Street Journal
“Most liberals have a problem with nationalism. John Judis has a problem with the problem liberals have with nationalism. This dynamic—or dialectic, if you prefer—makes Judis’ latest book, The Nationalist Revival, essential reading…. Judis might be said to have spent decades preparing himself for our current moment and developing the depth of understanding that allowed him to pack so much into his two compact and revelatory volumes for the impressive Columbia Global Reports series.” —E.J. Dionne, American Prospect
“John B. Judis’ new book offers a timely reminder that there is such a thing as a nationalist left, and the author himself is part of it.” —Daniel McCarthy, National Interest
“The longtime political journalist limns the rise of Trumpian nationalism in the face of a bewilderingly global world.” —Kirkus Reviews
“John B. Judis is the rare left-of-center journalist who takes our populist-nationalist moment seriously. Rather than dismiss the leaders and constituencies of the American and European movements as mere xenophobes, he offers an empathetic balls-and-strikes analysis of the socioeconomic factors that made—and continue to make—such campaigns viable.” —American Conservative
John B. Judis is Editor-At-Large at Talking Points Memo and author of eight books, including The Populist Explosion: How the Great Recession Transformed American and European Politics(Columbia Global Reports, 2016), Genesis: Truman, American Jews, and the Origin of the Arab-Israeli Conflict (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2014), The Folly of Empire: What George W. Bush Could Learn from Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson (Scribner, 2004), The Emerging Democratic Majority with Ruy Teixeira(Scribner, 2002), and The Paradox of American Democracy: Elites, Special Interests, and Betrayal of Public Trust (Pantheon, 2000). He has written for numerous publications, including The New Republic, The National Journal, The New York Times Magazine, Mother Jones, and The Washington Post. Born in Chicago, he received his B.A. and M.A. degrees in Philosophy from the University of California, Berkeley. He lives in Silver Spring, MD. @JohnBJudis
