Tribalization is a global megatrend in today’s world. The election of Donald Trump, the Brexit vote, populist movements like Catalan separatism – together with democratic backsliding in Central and Eastern Europe – are all examples of tribalization. Fuelled by anti-globalism and identity politics, tribalization is drawing up the drawbridge to the world. It is putting cultural differences before dialogue, collaboration and universal liberal values.<br /> <br /> But tribalism is a dangerous road to go down. With it, argues Marlene Wind, we have put democracy itself in danger. Tribalism is not just about being pro-nation, anti-EU and anti-global. It is in many instances a bigger and more fundamental movement that casts aside the liberal democratic principles we once held in common.<br /> <br /> At a time when former defenders of liberal values are increasingly silent or have even joined the growing chorus of tribalists, this book is a wakeup call. Drawing on a wide range of examples from the UK and the US to Spain, Hungary and Poland, Wind highlights the dangers of identity politics and calls on people to stand up for democracy and the rule of law.
Оглавление
Marlene Wind. The Tribalization of Europe
Contents
Guide
Pages
The Tribalization of Europe. A Defense of Our Liberal Values
Copyright page
Preface
Introduction
Notes
Imagined Communities and Identity Politics
Notes
Tribal Thinking and Dreams of Detachment
Notes
Why Brexit is Just Another Kind of Tribalism
Notes
The Tribal Shift in Central and Eastern Europe
Notes
Who Cares About Democracy?
Notes
Who Are The People?
Notes
The Purpose of a Constitution
Notes
Democracy Without Limits?
Notes
Are Illiberal Democracies Democracies?
Notes
Why Liberals Are Increasingly on the Defensive, but Shouldn’t Be
Notes
Concluding Remarks
Notes
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Marlene Wind
Francis Fukuyama, Identity
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The ideal and cultivation of a common past are absolutely central to the current tribal discourse. To the extreme Brexiteers as well as the Catalan separatists and ethnic-nationalists like Hungarian leader Vikor Orbán, the reference to prior historical greatness is crucial. Research has shown that referencing an often threatened or lost common past both polarizes societies and constitutes the recipe for modern tribalism. The narrative of an identity under threat is thus the very foundation of most autocratic regimes centered on a “strong leader” with a cynical personal interest in stoking hatred and antagonism to maintain his power base. As the American scholars Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt have addressed in their book How Democracies Die, the modern death of democracies rarely materializes at a coup or a tyrannical seizure of power. Rather, the strategy often involves a polling station to at least make the exercise look like “real” democracy.
What are the flashpoints for tribalism today? Tribalism, or neo-nationalism, is apparent from one end of Europe to the other. In Catalonia, for instance, where secessionists claim to urgently need a separate Catalan state, despite having one of the highest degrees of regional autonomy in Europe. Or in Britain, where tribalism for more than three years has resonated in Brexiteers’ call to defy Europe in the name of a long-expired glorious past. Similar developments are evident in Central and Eastern Europe – and more recently Italy, where Matteo Salvini’s Lega party employs identity politics, inventing new enemies, while at the same time blaming Europe for everything that is deplorable. Today, however, tribalization is reappearing everywhere and identity politics is used offensively to create a sense of community that “others” can never become a part of.
