Ebook: The Rise of the Capital-state and Neo-Nationalism: A New Polanyian Moment

The book makes contributions to several social science disciplines, such as political science, sociology, and global studies, and several fields within those discplines. It is geared both toward academics and students with those research/study interests.

The book argues that neo-nationalism can be understood as a reaction to a renewed “great transformation,” to use Karl Polanyi’s famous term. The essence of this renewed transformation is recalibration of the nation-state from a market-limiting to a market-making one. The book’s main insight is that there is an inextricable link between free market reforms, declining state legitimacy, and identity-based mobilization. Marketization of the states and societies triggers protective reactions against economic insecurity, precarious work, and inequality. These counter movements are often reactionary, xenophobic, and violent, with people retreating into nationalism and culture.

To pursue this argument, the book makes several steps. It begins by reviewing different academic approaches to what has been described as “populism,” “radical right / left,” or “far right / left.” It also challenges the over-used term “populism” and makes an important distinction between neoliberal populism and populist nationalisms of social protection, providing evidence to illustrate the rise of these different neo-nationalisms. Next, it scales up Karl Polanyi’s double-movement thesis to explain the neo-nationalist predicament, framing the argument in terms of broader research on state transformations.