THE WAR IN UKRAINE, TRUMPISM AND SOME RELATED GEOPOLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS – CONTRIBUTING FACTORS TO THE RESURGENCE OF LIBERAL NATIONALISM?
Keywords:
liberalism, nationalism, Donald Trump, Canada, UkraineAbstract
Liberal nationalism represents a contested concept in the literature of nationalism studies, being sometimes regarded as inherently blighted by internal contradictions. This is due to the tendency in some scholarly circles to associate any type of state-based nationalism with a proclivity towards oppressing internal “others”, for example national minorities, as well as a greater likelihood of pursuing foreign policies that can border on jingoism. Adopting a qualitative approach that is premised on the synthesis and analysis of a multitude of secondary sources from a number of disciplines within the social sciences, the paper has three primary objectives. Firstly, by examining the war in Ukraine, it shows how strong nationalist sentiment can be a powerful vehicle for the defense of liberal values and the rule-based international order, inspiring other sovereign states around the world and bringing about important political realignments in the Western world. Secondly, by highlighting the Canadian reactions to Donald Trump’s recent rhetoric pertaining to the nature of the relations between the United States and Canada, it demonstrates how in countries like the US’ northern neighbor, the party representing social liberalism may be stealing the thunder of right-wing and conservative politicians when it comes to being able to appeal to constituents with conventionally nationalist outlooks. Thirdly, by having as its reference point some of the social dynamics in high trust societies such as the Nordic countries, the paper argues that a political culture in which a high premium is placed on national unity and consensus politics may start to become more popular across the European continent as a whole, in part because societies with low levels of polarization and fragmentation appear to be significantly less susceptible to disinformation campaigns, which have increased in sophistication in recent years and frequently emanate from abroad, often involving non-Western powers such as the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China.
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