Neo-nationalism and the reconfiguration of Europe

Abstract

The reconfiguration of Europe following the end of the Cold War has gone through various phases, some of them closely connected to the emergence of the so-called new right in Western Europe's political landscape. Here I propose the concept of ‘neo-nationalism’ as an anthropological approach to comparative analyses of these phenomena, which may be understood as a new variant of nationalism in post-colonial and post–Cold War contexts of globalised re-adjustment. Ethnographic examples indicate that fear of downward social mobility and the ‘angry white men’ syndrome represent common core elements on a social level. By charismatic appeals and performances, neo-nationalist leaders pursue mass mobilisation against enemies ‘from above’ and ‘from below’. Although neo-nationalism may appear to be stagnant today, the current atmosphere of crisis in the EU could provide opportunities for a next phase of neo-nationalist re-orientation and competitive engagement.