US and Turkey on a collision course: the perils of nationalism

Washington

MUCH has been said and written in recent years about the rise of nationalism and its political-ideological relatives, nativism and mercantilism, and the way they help drive to power strong leaders with authoritarian leanings.

Those who have welcomed this trend have argued that it could provide for more global stability. Popular leaders who are less bound to special interests at home and are dismissive of internationalist illusions would enjoy more flexibility in making deals on national security and trade policy issues with their foreign counterparts; and they would deliver on the pledges they made!

But then there have been those who have argued that what helped secure international peace for much of the post-1945 era have been the multilateral governing bodies and international security and economic organisations that were established in the aftermath of World War II to combat the forces of …