Re-emergence of the Nation in the Antiglobalization Discourse

Abstract

This paper examines the re-emergence of the nation within antiglobalization discourse, exploring how national identity, sovereignty, and political mobilization have resurfaced as critical responses to globalization. While globalization proponents predicted the gradual erosion of nation-state primacy in favor of transnational governance and economic integration, recent decades have witnessed a resurgent nationalism that frames globalization as a threat to cultural identity, economic security, and political autonomy. Drawing on theoretical insights from political sociology, international relations, and cultural studies, this study analyzes the underlying forces driving the nationalist resurgence and situates antiglobalization as both a critique of neoliberal global order and a reassertion of nation-centered political imaginations. Through illustrative case studies, including Brexit, the rise of right-wing populism in Europe and the United States, and alternative antiglobalization movements in the Global South—this paper elucidates how the nation has re-entered global discourse as an organizing principle of resistance.