Aaron Astor: We Need To Rethink Our Models of Political Ideology

Aaron Astor
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Aaron Astor (Historian of the 19th Century U.S. and Associate Professor at Maryville College) on Facebook:
We need to rethink our models of political ideology, both in the US and around the world. There are right wing nationalists, left wing nationalists, right wing globalists and left wing globalists. There are gradations along each axis. Trump, Putin and the European far right parties are right wing nationalists. They emphasize cultural traditionalism and economic protectionism. Right wing globalists are the neo-conservatives, and the Reagan-Thatcher conservatives who believe in the universal power of free markets and the necessity of military intervention to advance global capitalism. Left wing nationalists have been strongest in Latin America but there is an element of it in Bernie Sanders' approach. They speak mostly of taking care of all the people at home and they refuse to take the ethnic and racial culture war bait. Left wing globalists believe that borders themselves are mostly antiquated hindrances to human rights and that international institutions should be vested with the power to advance basic human rights throughout the world. Again, there are gradations of each.
One consequence of viewing politics along these two axes is to see where opposition is most likely to arise. When a right wing globalist is in charge (like George W. Bush), the opposition is likely to take the form of left wing nationalism (Think of the charge: Why are we building schools in Iraq and not building schools at home?). When a right wing nationalist is in charge, the opposition is likely to advance left wing globalism (support for refugees, universal values of democracy, freedom and human rights). When a left wing nationalist is in charge (Chavez in Venezuela is the most extreme modern example), the opposition is likely to take the form of right wing globalism, advocating more free and open markets. When a left wing globalist is in charge (or one who is perceived to be a left wing globalist, like Obama), the opposition is likely to take the form of right wing nationalism.


(Zoon Politikon)