Aspen Ideas Festival: John Judis on 'The Nationalist Revival'
Journalist and author John Judis says nationalism doesn't start with political ideology, it starts with psychology and sentiment. And he says a sense of national identity is important to sustain a democracy.
Zanny Minton Beddoes opened the session by quoting two current world leaders:
President Trump said "I'm a nationalist, OK?"
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Theresa May said "If you consider yourself a citizen of the world, you are a citizen of nowhere, you don't know what the word citizenship means."
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What is the distinction between patriotism and nationalism?
Judis and Beddoes agreed that some of the rise in nationalism can be attributed to three underlying factors: insecurity, loss of identity and fear. Another factor that plays a role is the scale and pace of immigration.
Judis says America "has always been a country of immigrants ... and we've always had these blowups over immigration."
John Judis is an author and journalist. He has written eight books, most recently "The Nationalist Revival: Trade, Immigration and the Revolt against Globalization," and "The Populist Explosion: How the Great Recession Transformed American and European Politics."
An editor at large at Talking Points Memo, Judis was previously senior editor of The New Republic for 20 years and a senior writer at The National Journal.
The moderator was Zanny Minton Beddoes, editor-in-chief of The Economist. The event was held June 25, 2019 at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, Colorado.
To listen to their conversation click the audio player above.