Political leaders are drawing upon centuriesñޙ old myths and symbols of ethnic white majorities in their campaigning, say the authors of a groundbreaking new book on the rise of nationalism in the West.
Donald Trump, Marine Le Pen and campaigners for Brexit have all tapped into rural, native identities that originate as far back as the early 19th Century for use in their social media communications.
Through the analysis of more than 16,000 tweets surrounding the 2016 Brexit campaign, the US Presidential election and the 2017 French Presidential election, the authors of The New Nationalism in America and Beyond have found that far from being genuinely ñޘnewñޙ, recent nationalist movements have evoked language and sentiment consistent with that used in relation to Irish Catholics the 1820s, and southern Italy and eastern Europe migration in the 1870s.
ñޜAnalyses of these political events have tended to focus on the ñޘleft-behind argumentñޙ,ñޝ
says Dr Eric Taylor Woods, co-author of the book, and a sociologist in the School of Society and Culture at the ñ.
ñޜIn other words, income inequality is driving growing resentment and alienation among working classes across the West. But that does not explain why people are being drawn to populist, nationalist campaigns. It only explains ñޘwhy nowñޙ. What weñޙve found is that this ñޘnew nationalismñޙ is actually not new at all. Itñޙs deeply-rooted, it re-occurs, and when it does, we see an incredible continuity in the types of ideas that are used.ñޝ
Dr Woods and his co-author Dr Robert Schertzer, of the University of Toronto, began to research Trumpñޙs communication strategy following his election win in 2016. But once it became clear that events in Europe were following a similar theme, they expanded their focus.
They began with a ñޘhistorical deep-diveñޙ of political literature and history covering several hundred years in order to construct a model of the foundational ethnic myths and symbols of each country. What they found were recurring themes and ideas, particularly around immigration and religion, such as those expressed in the United States in the early 19th century, with criticism of the ñޘliberal elitesñޙ who were facilitating Irish Catholic immigration that was threatening to ñޘerode American cultureñޙ. This was echoed during a 50-year period around the turn of the 20th century, when migration from Southern and Eastern Europe dominated politics ñޓ even with a first reference to ñޘmaking America great againñޙ.
ñޜIn all three countries, we identified strong similarities, such as the way rural areas are framed against cities,ñޝ
says Dr Schertzer.
ñޜThere is this sense that that the ñޘreal Americañޙ, or ñޘreal Englandñޙ is a rural one, and that cities are locations where the culture is under threat of being eroded.ñޝ
The team then moved on to examine the political communication surrounding the three events and looked for examples of when these historic themes re-occurred. In Britain, they found that the Brexit campaignñޙs tweets evoked long-standing views of Europe as a place of ñޘchaosñޙ, taking historic views of France and Germany as being ñޘauthoritarian and anti-democraticñޙ and substituting them for the European Union. They also evoked religious concerns surrounding Turkeyñޙs potential membership of the union, echoing the anti-Catholic tone of the 19th century.
Trumpñޙs tweets, meanwhile, were found to focus almost exclusively on nationalist ideas, as opposed to policy. They found that he focused his efforts on creating an ñޘinñޙ and an ñޘoutñޙ group, with suburban Christian White Americans firmly at one end of the spectrum, and Muslims at the other ñޓ and other racial minorities somewhere in between.
In France, they found that Le Pen was prepared to go even further, openly attacking Islam as being ñޘanti-liberalñޙ.
ñޜWhat our research has shown is that tackling income inequality will help ñޓ but itñޙs not going to necessarily change peopleñޙs ideas around immigration and religion,ñޝ
concludes Dr Woods.
"We shouldnñޙt be surprised that this is happening, because these ideas are endemic and embedded in the West ñޓ and we have to acknowledge that if we are to confront it.ñޝ
The New Nationalism in America and Beyond is published by Oxford University Press. More information is available on the