Ethnonationalism's Rise Amid Global Disruptions

The article examines the resurgence of ethnonationalism in the context of profound global disruptions, including economic volatility, technological transformation, climate stress, and pandemics. Political scientists Pippa Norris and Ronald Inglehart argue that cultural backlash against perceived economic and cultural dislocation intensifies anxieties among groups feeling a loss of status in multicultural societies.

The narrative suggests that economic grievances alone do not fully explain the rise of anti-immigrant politics, as cultural anxieties around identity and demographic changes also play a significant role. Scholar Arun Kundnani notes that contemporary security regimes often racialize migration, conflating asylum seekers with security threats, which legitimizes expanded surveillance and militarized border control.

The article highlights the paradox of advanced economies requiring migrant labor for growth while simultaneously resisting demographic realities, leading to unstable immigration policies. It emphasizes that the framing of migration as a crisis obscures structural drivers of inequality and complicates the political landscape.