The Age of Walls and The Nationalist Revival

I remember being intrigued by Tim Marshall’s Prisoners of Geography a couple of years ago and he has a new title, THE AGE OF WALLS, about How Barriers Between Nations Are Changing Our World.  He begins with a chapter about the Great Wall of China, “built around a simplistic idea: on one side of it was civilization and on the other barbarity.” There, he discusses numerous challenges – ethnic unrest, disparity between rural and urban areas or between young (more educated and technologically savvy) and old – facing China today. THE AGE OF WALLS continues with chapters profiling the USA, Israel/Palestine, Africa, and more.  Near the end, Marshall looks at walls in Europe and the UK which is highly relevant given the ongoing Brexit negotiations. I particularly liked how he repeatedly sets a historical context and also the parallels which Marshall encourages his readers to draw between various regions.  For example, he quotes David Goodhart writing about group identity and the UK with “the people who see the world from Anywhere and the people who see it from Somewhere,” describing the Anywheres as tending to do well at school and university, feeling at home wherever they go, “whether that’s Berlin, New York, Shanghai, or Mumbai. On the other hand, Somewheres … live within twenty miles of where they grew up and identify with locality, region and country.”  This clearly impacts worldviews, attitudes towards migration, and prospects for working together to combat poverty around the globe. THE AGE OF WALLS received a starred review from Booklist.   

 

One of my Junior Theme research students recently saw John B. Judis (The Populist Explosion) speak at Northwestern University about his new book, THE NATIONALIST REVIVAL which focuses “on Trade, Immigration, and the Revolt Against Globalization.” Judis advocates for greater efforts at understanding and cooperation as he writes of “cosmopolitans” and “nationalists,” also referring to Goodhart’s analysis of Anywheres and Somewheres. However, Judis argues that nationalist sentiment is “an essential ingredient of a democracy” and contends that “politicians, parties and policymakers who simply discount these [nationalist] sentiments, or who identify them solely with right wing excesses – as many in the United States and Europe have done – are likely to encourage exactly the kind of nationalism they might have wanted to avoid.” Achieving positive reviews across the political spectrum, Judis strives to “identify and reclaim what is valid in nationalism – and of the liberal internationalism of the post-World War II generation – from both the cosmopolitan liberals who believe in a borderless world and from the right wing populists who have coupled a concern for their nation’s worker’s with antivist screeds against outgroups and immigrants.”  A thoughtful, balanced analysis worth reading.

Crashed by Adam Tooze

CRASHED by Adam Tooze, an award winning Professor of History at Columba University, contains over 700 pages which explain “How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World.”  Tooze does indeed focus on the intertwined financial world: first, he reviews the immediate response to the 2008 crisis and then moves to a discussion of the impact on Europe, especially countries like Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain. Next, he looks at a shift to a more austere fiscal policy around the globe which when combined with earlier events contributed to the rise of populist politics, as evidenced by the Brexit vote and Trump election. Much more than a quick summary of a complex, challenging and continuing situation, Tooze’s detailed analysis raises numerous questions. For example, are we abandoning the view that global trade makes everyone better off in the longer term? Will governments be more willing to act in a bipartisan manner to combat market distortions? Or are we heading once again towards more deregulation? What has been the impact on Russia and China? What kind of global cooperation can we expect if a new crisis occurs? CRASHED, a fascinating and comprehensive history for students of economics and politics, includes extensive notes and received starred reviews from both Kirkus and Library Journal.

Notes on a Foreign Country by Suzy Hansen

As a journalist, Suzy Hansen chose to live in Istanbul in 2007 in order to complete a research fellowship. She subsequently wrote NOTES ON A FOREIGN COUNTRY which is a very important, if painful, read at times.  While relaying personal experiences, Hansen provides an introspective look at Americans’ privilege, disregard, and sheer lack of knowledge about other countries and their history. Hansen very bravely describes her own ignorance and struggles to understand Turkey and its people, saying, “my learning process abroad was three fold: I was learning about foreign countries; I was learning about America’s role in the world; I was also slowly understanding my own psychology and temperament and prejudices – the very thing that made it so impossible to acquire worldly knowledge in the first place.” 

NOTES ON A FOREIGN COUNTRY is a book which invites quiet reflection upon comments such as: “Americans are surprised by the direct relationship between their country and foreign ones because we don’t acknowledge that America is an empire; it is impossible to understand a relationship if you are not aware you are in one” or (quoting Moshin Hamid) “There’s an America that exists inside the borders of the United States, which is a very different entity from the America that projects its force outside the United States.” It is indeed difficult to grasp that contrast if one does not have an opportunity to speak with citizens of other countries or to travel or live abroad – something everyone, like Hansen, should strive to experience.  

One sense of what others are thinking is available through the Global Attitudes and Trends Studies from Pew Research Center.   The map below, for example, illustrates the less favorable global opinions about America in 2017:

It is truly difficult to fully appreciate others’ perspectives and one’s own biases; as Hansen says, “an objective American mind is first and foremost still an American mind.” While that summary may feel overly critical to some, it should help readers to consider the potential outcomes of what Hansen calls “the American vision of its place in the world: as guardian and enforcer.” Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, NOTES ON A FOREIGN COUNTRY received a starred review from Booklist and merits contemplative readership, empathetic exploration, and energetic discussion.