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The crisis of the present is in many ways due to the reopening of the space of the political. Nationalism and varieties of populism are one response to the current hiatus. The rise of populist politics is clearly a feature of our time. In Europe, the presence of right wing populist parties has been a mark of the political landscape since the early 1990s when they emerged to challenge the centre-right mainstream parties. However, it would appear that something has changed today. Until recently, such movements were relatively marginal to mainstream politics. Today, they have become increasingly part of the mainstream. Right-wing populism is not a new or aberrant political phenomenon but is a radicalization of issues and ideas in mainstream politics. One powerful source is popular resentment, which can be target against almost anything, including migrants and elites. Contemporary societies are now ever more divided than ever before and that an emerging feature of their divisions is a new cleavage between two groups of people, who can be characterized as nationals and cosmopolitans. In other words, those who are locked into an inward-looking nationalism and those who see themselves as belonging to a wider political community. The divisions within societies are now arguably greater than differences between societies. The chapter provides an analysis of Brexit as a special case. This leads on to a wider discussion of the trend towards cultural and political authoritarianism. The chapter proceeds with a look at the rise of regional nationalist movements and concludes with an assessment of the implications of nationalism more generally for Europeanization.

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-95435-6_15

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