Liah Greenfeld and Adam Hanieh kicked off the first Plenary Session of the 2021 IPSA World Congress of Political Science. The Plenary, titled New Nationalism in a Global Perspective, was chaired by the Program Co-Chair Hasret Dikici Bilgin.
Prof. Greenfeld’s Plenary lecture, “Globalization of Nationalism”, presented the nature of nationalism: national consciousness, national identity, and the organization of communities as nations. Her presentation also analyzed the reasons for the continued appeal of nationalism in the context of an increasingly open world, attributing this appeal to the dignity with which nationalism endows personal identities of common people.
Through a historical perspective of social transformations in France, the United States, China, and the UK, Prof. Greenfeld confirmed the effective power of nationalism in modern politics. Her analysis of nationalism was established under several claims. She emphasized the beginning of the “nation” in the 16th century when societies changed their status.
Prof. Greenfeld specifies that dignity requirements appeared and transformed the nature of consciousness in society. People became members of the same community, sharing a similar identity: “Individualist civic consciousness became collectivist civic consciousness.” Thus, the definition of nation is intrinsically linked to the notion of democracy.
Prof. Liah Greenfeld is the Professor of Sociology, Political Science and Anthropology at the Boston University.
Furthermore, Prof. Greenfeld introduced nationalism as a social progress and consciousness trigger. In modern times, globalization is considered to be the opposite of nationalism. However, it’s a product: “The world starts to be unified by sharing cultural and national consciousness,” and the world is ‘naturally divided.’ Nationalism, therefore, brought us equality, inclusion, personal dignity and revealed itself as a “brick of the word wall.”
Adam Hanieh’s continued with his Plenary Lecture titled “Migration, Methodological Nationalism, and the Global Political Economy: Thinking Across Borders”. He discussed the key theoretical approaches to migration in Political Science. He made the case for renewing and developing a global political economy perspective that is grounded in a critique of methodological nationalism. Prof. Hanieh divided his presentation in three main themes: 1) How migration is understood through the economy; 2) How migration challenges conception of social classes; 3) What this might reveal about the border and state management.
Indeed, the connection between capitalism and migrant labour is not new and was shaped by the concept of the worker class. This last notion changes our view about borders, increasing exaggerated fears. In fact: “without borders, the category of migrants will not exist. We will only see mobility”. Migrants are more than ever seen as a “passive object of humanitarian aid and support” or as a “simple result” of historical events and not as a “vital part” of the working class. Thus, migration analysis must be a part of economic and social research.
Prof. Adam Hanieh is the Professor of Political Economy and Global Development at the University of Exeter.
