The Left(s) and Nationalism(s) in contemporary Western Europe

Abstract

This article introduces our themed section on The Left(s) and Nationalism(s), which provides a comparative analysis of the relationship between nationalism and different leftwing parties in Western Europe. It highlights the innovative comparative perspectives offered by this themed section, which not only concerns a series of different geographical cases studies but also involves the ideological plurality of the Left. The larger research question that our contributors address is how different left-wing parties have dealt with the inherent ideological tension between the universality claimed by the Left and the particularism inherent in nationalism, as a doctrine and a principle of political legitimacy. The article stresses three main contributions of our themed section: (1) Western European left-wing parties do engage with the themes of nationalism and nationhood, but they often rely on convenient silence to solve some of the contradictions with their progressive ideology. (2) None of these parties have formulated thick versions of the respective national identities. (3) State-wide left-wing parties have used instrumental conceptions of nationhood to address the challenge of separatist parties, but only with mixed results.

Universalism within: The tension between universalism and community in progressive ideology

“…However the work of Michael Billig (1995) has made researchers aware of how nationalism informs contemporary societies in much deeper and pervasive ways than organised forms of ‘remedial political action’. Therefore, in line with the perspective that frames this themed section (Dalle Mulle & Kernalegenn, 2022), we understand nationalism ‘as an unconscious script in our daily life in modern societies that legitimises political power in more banal ways than those usually emphasised in a literature often too focused on instances of “hot” nationalism’ (introduction to this themed section). This broader conception of nationalism is especially salient for left‐wing parties because it allows making visible how the Left often implicitly accepts nationalist postulates about the determination of the legitimate political community, the contours of citizenship and the boundaries of solidarity (Brubaker, 1989; Greenfeld, 1992, p. 1–26; Yack, 2012, pp.…”

The nation of the people: An analysis of Podemos and Five Star Movement's discourse on the nation

“…65–80). As Dalle Mulle and Kernalegenn indicate in the introduction of this special issue, this immediately points to a tension between the universalism of the left and the particularism inherent in nationalism (Dalle Mulle & Kernalegenn, 2022). It is a tension that has been scarcely explored in recent works on the left, including those specifically on left‐wing populism (a gap that this special issue contributes to filling).…”

Greens and the nation: Is small beautiful?

“…Whilst the literature on the lefts and the national issue is relatively abundant, albeit fragmented, not very sociological, and little renewed recently (Dalle Mulle & Kernalegenn, 2022), the literature on political ecology and the nation is almost non‐existent, at best scattered, and does not generally dialogue with the literature on nationalism. Moreover, the few references are mainly within normative political theory, studying the modalities of a theoretical encounter between nationalism and ecologism (de‐Shalit, 2006; Eckersley, 2007; Margulies, 2021).…”

“…Whilst the literature on the lefts and the national issue is relatively abundant, albeit fragmented, not very sociological, and little renewed recently (Dalle Mulle & Kernalegenn, 2022), the literature on political ecology and the nation is almost non-existent, at best scattered, and does not generally dialogue with the literature on nationalism.…”