[7][8][9] Neo-nationalism is associated with several positions such as right-wing populism,[10] anti-globalization,[11] nativism,[10] protectionism,[12] opposition to immigration,[2] Islamophobia in non-Muslim-majority countries,[13] and Euroscepticism, where applicable.
[17][18][19] Several neo-nationalist politicians have come to power or run strongly during the 2010s and 2020s, including Giorgia Meloni in Italy,[20] Marine Le Pen in France,[21] Rodrigo Duterte and Bongbong Marcos in the Philippines,[22][23] and Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil.
The European Union integration and enlargement gave rise to a series of economic, social, and political changes causing uncertainties on an individual and collective level.
The dramatic events that marked the Islamic world in the 1980s such as the Iranian Revolution set a start of increased immigration towards Western European states.
The inclusion of "foreign principles" next to the traditional elements that constitute the character of the hosting state as criteria for policy led to the feeling of the threat neo-nationalist felt.
[29] The conflicts and the violence that followed after the political destabilization in some Muslim majority states led to the categorisation of Islam as having an anti-democratic and anti-modern character that is at odds with Western liberal democracy.
[33] Writing for Politico, Michael Hirsh described new nationalism as "a bitter populist rejection of the status quo that global elites have imposed on the international system since the Cold War ended, and which lower-income voters have decided—understandably—is unfair.
"[35] Clarence Page wrote in the Las Vegas Sun that "a new neo-tribal nationalism has boiled up in European politics and to a lesser degree in the United States since the global economic meltdown of 2008".
[38] According to Harvard political theorist Yascha Mounk, "economic stagnation among lower- and middle-class whites [has been] a main driver for nationalism's rise around the globe.
"[5] Writing for The Week, Damon Linker called the idea of neo-nationalism being racist "nonsense" and went on to say that "the tendency of progressives to describe it as nothing but 'racism, Islamophobia, and xenophobia'—is the desire to delegitimize any particularistic attachment or form of solidarity, be it national, linguistic, religious, territorial, or ethnic.
[77] The 63rd Prime Minister Shinzō Abe (assumed office from 2012 to 2020), a member of the far-right organisation Nippon Kaigi, promoted ideas of new nationalism, as did the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, which he led.
[4] Charles Clover, the Moscow bureau chief of the Financial Times from 2008 to 2013, wrote a book in 2016 titled Black Wind, White Snow: The Rise of Russia's New Nationalism.
[84] Russian nationalist thinker Aleksandr Dugin in particular has had influence over the Kremlin, serving as an adviser to key members of the ruling United Russia party, including now-SVR Director Sergey Naryshkin.
[86] The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammad bin Salman (assumed office in 2017), has been described by Kristin Diwan of The Arab Gulf States Institute as being attached to a "strong new nationalism".
[89] The policies of Mohammad bin Salman's administration have been heavily influenced by his adviser Saud al-Qahtani, who has been described as a "nationalist ideologue" and whose role has been compared to that formerly of Steve Bannon.
He wrote in Newsweek that supporters of both are motivated by "a yearning to control immigration, reverse globalization and restore national greatness by disengaging from the wide, threatening world".
[102] The appointment of Steve Bannon, the executive of Breitbart News (later cofounding The Movement), as White House Chief Strategist, was described by one analyst as arousal of a "new world order, driven by patriotism and a fierce urge to look after your own, a neo-nationalism that endlessly smears Muslims and strives to turn back the clock on free trade and globalization, a world where military might counts for far more than diplomacy and compromise".