Description

What explains the rise of populist nationalism in the contemporary phase of globalized development? Drawing on Karl Polanyi's study of the great transformation, The Rise of the Capital-state and Neo-nationalism argues that populist nationalism is a societal reaction to the pro-market structural changes in the political economies of nation-states - conceptualized as the capital-state transformation. Oleksandr Svitych shows that there is an inextricable link between free market reforms, declining state legitimacy, and identity-based mobilization. Examining four case studies (Australia, France, Hungary, and South Korea) through a mixed method approach, the book finds that discontented voters gravitate toward populist neo-national political forces and embrace identity-based solutions - often in exclusivist and scapegoating forms - to harness their anxieties and insecurities triggered by the capital-state restructuring. Populist nationalism of both the left and the right has emerged to compensate for the real and perceived inability of the state to shield citizens from the corrosive effects of market fundamentalism. The Rise of the Capital-state and Neo-nationalism contributes to our understanding of the dynamics of the interrelated nature of state, capital, and identity politicization through a broader social theoretical perspective.

*The Rise of the Capital-state and Neo-Nationalism is now available in paperback for individual customers.