The global causes include economic anxiety. It is likely the pandemic has exacerbated this
commitments to phase out coal and fossil fuels were diluted at the last minute while there was frustration over the lack of binding commitments to help poorer nations.
Environmental campaigners expressed dismay over the actions of some world leaders, including those of China, Russia and Brazil for failing to attend the summit in person; India and China over their late stand-off over fossil fuels; and Western leaders for refusing to commit to rigorous financial support packages.
The mounting concern that a new age of nationalism and protectionism around the world is
sabotaging international cooperation was echoed by academics yesterday.
Associate professor Alex Stewart, of St Andrews University, who specialises in international cultural and social behaviour and cooperation, said his research found evidence both of growing nationalism and also that it hindered international collaboration.
He said: “I absolutely think there is a rise in nationalism being experienced at the moment, and that it has local and global causes.
“Global causes include people feeling economic anxiety, and this has probably been exacerbated by the pandemic. What also happens is that, when these ideas and feelings take hold, they are hard to shift and lead to breakdowns in cooperation, where people cannot do things which perhaps they would like to do or which would be good for them, because attitudes have become entrenched. Therefore, this rise in nationalism is inhibiting greater multilateral cooperation.”
He cited nationalistic attitudes in countries such as Brazil, China, India and Russia as having featured in his research. He said: “President Bolsonaro of Brazil is an obvious example when talking about climate change given the significance of the Amazon region.
“Within the EU, we also have movements in countries such as Hungary, France, Germany, Poland. While these movements are not in power, they are growing in magnitude. Further afield, the Philippines has been cited as becoming more repressive in this regard and, in the US, we had President Trump, the Capitol riots and the storming of Congress.”
A study by academics at the University of Graz, Austria three years ago cited evidence suggesting nationalism was on the increase in some countries, stating: “From the election of Donald Trump to Brexit, the nationalist policies of the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi and the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the success of far-right parties in Italian, German and Austrian elections in 2017 and 2018, nationalism appears to be on rise globally.”
Author Florian Bieber concluded that while there was no single global trend, some countries had seen a rise in nationalism.
He wrote: “This trend is neither uniform nor universal. However, this does not signal that there is no reason for concern. Further exogenous shocks can increase the significance of nationalism; nationalisms through their inherently confrontational structure can also mutually increase tensions and conflict.
“The democratic backsliding around the world, from Hungary to Turkey, from Venezuela to the United States has repercussions for nationalism. Less democratic regimes are more likely to use nationalism.”