The Paradox of Transnational (Neo)Nationalism: Neo-nationalist Entanglements with Capital-"isms" in Modern Poland
| dc.contributor.author | Tepper, Madison | en |
| dc.contributor.committeechair | Caraccioli, Mauro J. | en |
| dc.contributor.committeemember | Luke, Timothy W. | en |
| dc.contributor.committeemember | Debrix, François | en |
| dc.contributor.department | Political Science | en |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2019-02-26T14:44:17Z | en |
| dc.date.available | 2019-02-26T14:44:17Z | en |
| dc.date.issued | 2019-02 | en |
| dc.description.abstract | The Polish Independence Day march in Warsaw in November 2017 drew a flurry of international media attention for its shocking mass display of far-right nationalism, connections to neo-Nazi groups, and feature of openly racist, Islamophobic, anti-Semitic, and homophobic slogans. However, the dangerously “othering” nationalist ideologies expressed in Poland during this demonstration are far from unique. Over the past 20-30 years, eerily similar nationalist movements have simultaneously emerged across Eastern Europe and the West. Paradoxically, the nation-state has perhaps never had less agency as increasingly global capitalism continues to encroach upon the dominance of the nation itself. I argue that this trend of new nationalist movements indicates a departure from the traditional definitions of nationalism that requires a distinct category, which I refer to as neo-nationalism. In Chapter 1, I differentiate neo-nationalism from conventional understandings of nationalist politics and provide a working definition of neo- nationalism in the twenty-first century. I aim to show that a contextualization of these neo- nationalist movements alongside increasingly global capitalism is essential to understanding the othering natures of neo-nationalist ideologies and their paradoxical nature – both national and transnational, both shocking and entirely banal. I illustrate this by returning to the case of modern Poland, employing a visual rhetorical analysis from a Marxist-feminist perspective in order to demonstrate the manifestations of particular and dangerous dynamics of othering in Polish neo- nationalism. I refer to these dynamics as “capital-isms,” such that they are the “shocking” expression of what are in fact pervasive prejudices brought to the surface by the changing conditions of global capitalism. In Chapter 2, I examine the rhetoric surrounding the Polish Independence Day march in 2017 to highlight the paradoxes and power mechanisms at play in Polish neo-nationalism. I follow with an exploration of the rhetoric employed by the Polish far- right nationalist party, Law and Justice, with particular contextualization with regard to its relationship with the European Union in Chapter 3. Finally, I conclude this thesis by considering the implications of this research for the study of neo-nationalism going forward. | en |
| dc.description.abstractgeneral | The Polish Independence Day march in Warsaw in November 2017 drew a flurry of international media attention for its shocking mass display of far-right nationalism, connections to neo-Nazi groups, and feature of openly racist, Islamophobic, anti-Semitic, and homophobic slogans. However, the dangerously “othering” nationalist ideologies expressed in Poland during this demonstration are far from unique. Over the past 20-30 years, eerily similar nationalist movements have simultaneously emerged across Eastern Europe and the West. In this thesis, I theorize the Polish far-right nationalism on display at the Independence Day march as part of a broader trend of neo-nationalist movements, which I demonstrate are paradoxical in nature. After establishing the defining characteristics of neo-nationalism as a phenomenon, I highlight these paradoxes through an analysis of Polish neo-nationalist rhetoric. Furthermore, by placing this rhetoric within its socioeconomic and historical contexts, I demonstrate that the “shocking” display of far-right nationalism in the march is an expression of what are in fact pervasive prejudices brought to the surface by the changing conditions of global capitalism. | en |
| dc.description.degree | M.A. | en |
| dc.format.medium | ETD | en |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10919/87774 | en |
| dc.language.iso | en_US | en |
| dc.publisher | Virginia Tech | en |
| dc.rights | Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States | en |
| dc.rights.uri | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/ | en |
| dc.subject | nationalism | en |
| dc.subject | neo-nationalism | en |
| dc.subject | capitalism | en |
| dc.subject | globalization | en |
| dc.subject | Poland | en |
| dc.subject | European Union | en |
| dc.subject | PiS | en |
| dc.subject | Law and Justice Party | en |
| dc.subject | EU | en |
| dc.subject | Europe | en |
| dc.subject | USSR | en |
| dc.title | The Paradox of Transnational (Neo)Nationalism: Neo-nationalist Entanglements with Capital-"isms" in Modern Poland | en |
| dc.type | Thesis | en |
| thesis.degree.discipline | Political Science | en |
| thesis.degree.grantor | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University | en |
| thesis.degree.level | masters | en |
| thesis.degree.name | M.A. | en |