This book maps three waves of nativist populism in the post-war era emerging into contemporary
Neo-Nationalism. The first wave rose in the wake of the Oil Crisis in 1972. The second was
ignited by the Collapse of Communism in 1989 spiking with the 9 11 terrorist attacks. The
third began to emerge after the Financial Crisis of 2008 soaring with the Refugee Crisis of
2015. Whether the Coronavirus Crisis of 2020 will lead to the rise of a fourth wave remains to
be seen. The book traces a move away from liberal democracy and towards renewed authoritative
tendencies on both sides of the Atlantic. It follows the mainstreaming of formerly discredited
and marginalized politics gradually becoming a new normal. By identifying common qualities of
Neo-Nationalism the book frames a threefold claim of nativist populists in protecting the
people: discursively creating an external threat pointing to domestic traitors and
positioning themselves as the true defenders of the nation.
