Nationalism is Not a Dirty Word

In recent times, in both academic publications and in the media more generally, there has been a notable tendency to depreciate nationalism and in some cases the very idea of the nation. In the media, there is the constant linking of so-called ‘right-wing extremism’ and nationalism. Both are presented as deplorable current trends. This ‘right-wing extremism’ can encompass developments as widely separated, and as popularly supported, as the electoral win of Donald Trump, the support for Marine Le Pen in France, the Modi government in India, or the movement for Brexit in the UK. In media commentary nationalism is frequently treated as the equivalent of racism. One of the most egregious examples of this is the widespread use in the media of the term ‘white nationalism.’ This is used as a synonym for racism. In academia, the disparagement of nationalism was in the past most often associated with left wing writers; but increasingly it be part of the ideological commitments of what Tariq Ali [1] has called the ‘extreme centre,’ identified with the political and economic agendas of neoliberalism and globalisation. In academic work, the emphasis has been on the constructed nature of nationalism, with the implication of artificiality; in addition, the thoroughgoing and relentless analysis of national myths has– at the very least– implied that they are false.