Neo-nationalism: A 2020 Perspective

With the U.S. general election in our rearview mirror, it might appear to some people that the country dodged a bullet and voted out a president who has, more often than not, sided with despots and dictators and catered to a misogynistic, racist, and nationalist view of the world. Yet, as we wrap up 2020, it is more critical than ever for international educators to take a hard look at what it means for us to do our work at this time in a world where divisions are fomented to consolidate power and marginalizing the “other” is a cheap and easy way to score political points.  

From the United States to India, from Brazil to the Philippines, many governments have turned inward. Nationalism—defined by Florian Bieber as a “malleable and narrow ideology, which values membership in a nation greater than other groups (i.e., based on gender, parties, or socio-economic group), seeks distinction from other nations, and strives to preserve the nation”—does not take into account the varied plurality of the nation-state, let alone the international community seeking instead to maintain certain supremacies over others. This viewpoint renders those who seek to effect positive change through the interactions of individuals, institutions, policies, and treaties as suspect, if not traitorous, in what are often seen as further efforts to undermine national sovereignty. 

International educators are by nature optimists, even idealists, but it does not behoove us at this critical moment to assume a single election can change the tide. Nor does