2022 FSH Spring Seminar II:

The Politics of Nationalism

• Date: Wednesday, May 25, 2022

• Time: 12:30 PM - 1:50 PM

Speaker: Dr. Leonie Huddy

Dr. Leonie Huddy is a Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science at Stony Brook University. She is the co-editor (with David O. Sears and Jack Levy) of the 2nd edition of the Oxford Handbook of Political Psychology, served as co-editor of the journal Political Psychology from 2005 till 2010, is past-president of the International Society of Political Psychology (ISPP), serves on the American National Election Studies Board of Overseers, appears regularly on CSB Radio as an exit poll analyst, and serves on numerous editorial boards in political science. Huddy has written extensively on social and political identities, emotions, reactions to terrorism, gender and politics, and race relations. She is the co-author (with Stanley Feldman and George Marcus) of Going to War in Iraq: When Citizens and the Press Matter published by the University of Chicago Press.

Abstract

Many populist parties promote nationalistic country-first policy platforms. In the United States, for example, the Republican Party has increasingly adopted nationalistic policies such as opposition to immigration and multilateralism, culminating in the election of Donald Trump in 2016. Similar agendas have been adopted by political parties in Western European multiparty systems. The increased salience of nationalism in the platforms and rhetoric of political parties raises an important question about the extent to which a nationalistic agenda has broad public appeal. Have democratic publics become more nationalistic over time in the US, Western Europe, and elsewhere? Or are levels of nationalism relatively stable in a population and it is the political relevance of nationalism that has increased over time? To address these questions, this seminar will examine the political psychology of national attachments, differentiating between patriotism or love of country and nationalism which is more akin to a sense of national superiority. This seminar will then show that political parties can increase the political salience of nationalism, although its appeal may be limited to those from the majority ethnic and religious group within a country. This raises important questions about the success of nationalistic appeals in immigrant nations marked by ethnic and racial diversity.