In-Person Author Meets Critics
Participants:
- (Chair) Vinicius G. Rodrigues Vieira, IDP University
- (Presenter) Rogers M. Smith, University of Pennsylvania
- (Presenter) Christina Davis, Harvard University
- (Presenter) Ashutosh Varshney, Brown University
- (Presenter) Sener Akturk, Koç University
Session Description:
How does the definition of peoplehood shape the rise of far-right populism along with distribution of political power between ethnic and racial groups, on the one hand, and economic sectors, on the other? The book, Shaping Nations and Markets: Identity Capital, Trade, and the Populist Rage (Routledge Series in Nationalism and Ethnicity, 2024), offers a theoretical framework to unpack the complex relationships arising from the political upheaval that has been storming democracy in both developed and developing nations since the last decade. Therefore, the work contributes to answer the following question outlined in the theme statement: “What can political science tell us about the roots of division and disorder today?”
In a nutshell, by employing a mixed-method approach that brings together regression analysis and elite interviewing along with archival research, the book argues that ethnic, racial, and religious cleavages ground competing stories of peoplehood in the form of narratives of national identity. Hence, minorities or vanishing majorities have incentives to increase or at least keep their identity capital—that is, the form of power that stems from their recognition as members of the nation. Ownership of identity capital, in turn, is contingent upon the centrality that a specific ethnic, racial, or religious group has in a story of peoplehood that set the parameters for defining who belongs to a given nation regardless of formal rules of citizenship.
The empirical focus lies on the struggles about nationalism and economic globalization that have been taking place since the onset of the 21st century in Brazil, India, and the United States and culminated in the ascent of leaders like Jair Bolsonaro, Narendra Modi, and Donald Trump to power. In addition, the book brings evidence on shadow cases that explores how struggles of peoplehood and power linked to the concept of identity capital explain Brexit, Mexico’s left-wing populism under Lopez Obrador, the patterns of populism in the European Union, and the lack of meaningful far-right movements in party politics in Canada. Finally, the book generalizes the argument beyond the main and shadow cases by identifying through linear models that the higher the degree of ethnic fragmentation of a country, the higher the chances of the same nation to elect a populist leader.
The book findings indicate that populism should be understood as the process through which identity capital is mobilized and, hence, narratives of national identity and stories of peoplehood are contested. So, more than discontent with the redistributive effects of economic globalization, the rise of Bolsonaro, Modi, and their populist counterparts in the Global North – particularly Trump in the United States – results from the mobilization of specific ethnic, racial, and religious segments with the aim of changing longstanding narratives of national identity. The transformation of what it means to be Brazilian, Indian, and American, in turn, empowers certain social groups and economic sectors over others.
In the case of Brazil, there is a high correlation between economic sectors, such as agribusiness, which concentrate most non-white workers (who represent the Brazilian ideal of racial diversity, now strongly contested by Evangelicals who want a Christian-centric nation) and the pursuit of liberalization, which nevertheless failed. In India, Hindu-dominated regions backed liberalizing interests, an expression of the affinities between Hindutva and neoliberalism. In the United States, since the early 2000s there has been a growing association between whiteness and opposition to trade liberalization – seen in the growing nationalist-protectionist rhetoric associated with a white-centric discourse and opposition to a multicultural America.
The panel brings together the author (Rodrigues Vieira) and critics of the book from different perspectives. Smith, who wrote extensively about stories of peoplehood, will discuss the theoretical framework and the concept of identity capital, as well as its application to the American case. Being a major specialist in trade politics, Davis shall focus on the controversial claim that identity shapes commercial preferences as much as political institutions and organized interests. Varshney will debate the findings related to India, while Akturk will assess the case selection and the use of the literature on nationalism the book makes. With this composition, the panel therefore intends to contribute to enlighten the understanding of power transformations that stem from disputes around competing stories of peoplehood as set in the congress main theme.
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