Nationalism in the 21st century : neo-tribal or plural?

First published: 16 January 2021Nations are faced today with a new set of social and economic challenges: economic globalisation has intensified bringing with it a more intense phase of cultural interconnectedness and political interdependence. Nation-states see their sovereign powers eroded and are transformed to post-national states as the political space they govern is no longer congruent with the socio-economic space which transcends the national borders. Nonetheless, the nation continues to be a powerful source of identity and legitimacy. We are actually witnessing in Europe and worldwide a comeback of nationalism oftentimes in an aggressive, nativist and populist guise. This paper seeks to offer a new analytical lens through which to make sense of this new tide of nationalism. It therefore reviews critically the ethnic vs civic and perennialist, primordialist, modernist and ethnosymbolist approaches to suggest that they are no longer fit for purpose in explaining where nations and nationalism come from and where they are headed to. The paper proposes a new analytical framework which distinguishes between plural and neo-tribal nationalism, focusing on how nations interact with diversity and permeability in the 21st century context