Nationalism and Anti-Semitism in Europe

Abstract

By Charles Apke, International Studies

Advisor: Michele Vialet

Presentation ID: Room 425_3

Abstract: Nationalism and Anti-Semitism are on the rise in Europe. Across the European Union there have been growing movements pushing for less control of Brussels and more independence of the nation-state. This is seen not only in the eastern former Soviet Bloc states, such as Hungary, Slovakia, Czechia, and Poland, otherwise known as the Visegrad Group, but also in Western Europe. Brexit in the United Kingdom, the rise of the AfD in Germany along with the rise of the National Rally in France have all been clear indicators of the growing popularity of nationalistic sentiments of the people of Europe. The rise in right wing and far-right political parties and sentiments has been accompanied by an astonishing increase in anti-Semitic hate crimes committed in the past few years. To understand how to develop a proper response, it is important to investigate the causes of this development. This presentation focuses on two questions: (a) What might explain this increase in far-right political groups and rise of Anti-Semitism? Is the migrant crisis to blame? Is it simply the backlash of overreach from the European Union bureaucracy in Brussels? Or is it even connected with the economic crisis of 2008? (b) Given the history of the Jewish people with far-right governments in Europe, to what extent, if any, are nationalistic sentiments and Anti-Semitism connected today?