Anglo Nostalgia: The Politics of Emotion in a Fractured West [Hardcover]

Does not seek to judge the wisdom of Britain leaving the EU, but exposes nostalgia's great danger: the oversimplification of reality.Nostalgia has become a major force in global politics. While Donald Trump hopes to make America great again, Xi Jinping calls for a great rejuvenation of the Chinese people, and a majority of Russians still mourn the Soviet Union. But it is Brexit, with its idealization of a bygone era of full sovereignty, that epitomizes nostalgic nationalism in its purest form.Despite its romantic flavor, nostalgia is a malaise--a combination of paranoia and melancholy that idealizes the past, while denigrating the present. This epidemic of mythicizing national history is shaping politics in risky ways, fueled by ageing populations, shifts in the global order, and technological disruption. When deployed in the political debate, collective nostalgia is used as an emotional weapon, capable of mobilizing a nation towards illusory goals.Drawing on psychology, political science, history and popular culture,Anglo Nostalgiaanalyses the rapid spread of this global phenomenon, before focusing on Brexit as a case study. With the detachment of informed outsiders, Campanella and Dass? expose nostalgia's great danger: the oversimplification of reality, leading to unprecedented political miscalculations and rising geopolitical tensions.ForewordIntroductionSECTION I MYTHMAKINGChapter One-- A Global EpidemicChapter Two -- Nostalgia as an Emotional WeaponChapter Three -- Constructing a Nostalgic NarrativeChapter Four -- Birth of an IdeaSECTION II -- REALITY CHECKChapter Five --The Foreign Policy of NostalgiaChapter Six -- The Anglo-Saxon TribeChapter Seven -- A Not So Special Relationship: America and BritainConclusion -- Nostalgia and The Future of SovereigntyBibliographyEdoardo Campanella is a Future World Fellow at IE University, Madrid. A shortlisted author for the Bracken Bower Prize, he contributes regularly to Foreign Affairs and Project Syndicate