Abandoning democracy for the nation

For years, many believed that nationalism had become a relic of the past. In an increasingly globalised and interconnected world, the nation state was often treated as politically outdated — a fading structure in what was supposed to be a “post-national” age. Yet recent history has challenged that assumption. National identity has returned to the centre of politics across much of the world, shaping elections, public discourse, and increasingly, the fate of democracy itself.

In his new book, Abandoning Democracy for the Nation, Filip Milačić argues that the nation state remains the most important political unit of our time — and one that scholars and liberals alike have profoundly underestimated. Focusing on five countries that have all experienced democratic backsliding in recent years — Serbia, Turkey, Israel, Hungary, and Poland — the book examines how nationalist narratives have been used to justify the erosion of democratic institutions.

While much of the literature on democratic decline has focused on populism, Filip Milačić argues that nationalism is the more powerful analytical concept for understanding these cases. Populism tends to define politics through a struggle between “the people” and corrupt elites. Nationalism, by contrast, revolves around a different question: who belongs to the nation — and who does not.

That distinction matters. In some contexts, the outsider may indeed be an elite, such as the secular establishment in Turkey. In others, it may be immigrants, minorities, foreign powers, or external actors — as in Serbia, where “the West” was framed as a national threat. What unites these cases is not simply anti-elitism, but the construction of a narrative in which the nation itself is portrayed as under siege.

According to Filip Milačić, this “threat narrative” is the key mechanism through which democratic backsliding becomes politically possible. Authoritarian actors succeed when they convince voters that the nation faces existential danger. Once that narrative resonates, attacks on democratic institutions can be reframed not as assaults on democracy, but as necessary acts of national defence.

But why do such narratives resonate in some societies more than others? Filip Milačić identifies several shared historical characteristics across the five cases. All were shaped by nation-building processes dominated by ethnic conceptions of national identity. Many experienced territorial loss, occupation, disputed borders, or longstanding narratives of victimhood and exceptionalism. These historical experiences created fertile ground for nationalist appeals centred on insecurity and collective threat.

Yet the book does not simply present nationalism as a danger. One of its more provocative arguments is that nationalism may also be part of the solution.

Filip Milačić contends that many liberals and progressives have misunderstood the emotional foundations of politics by reducing individuals to rational actors primarily motivated by economic interests. Human beings, he argues, also seek dignity, recognition, belonging, and stability. Nations help provide these things. They offer individuals a sense of collective identity — a “cognitive map” that explains where they come from and where they belong. This is why nationalist appeals remain so politically potent, especially in times of uncertainty. When people perceive the nation as central to their sense of security and self-worth, they may tolerate democratic erosion if they believe it is necessary to protect the national community.

For Filip Milačić, this means pro-democracy actors cannot limit themselves to defending institutions alone. They must also confront the narratives that prepare the ground for democratic decline. Ignoring nationalism, he argues, leaves its meaning entirely in the hands of the far right. Nations are not fixed or eternal entities; they are constantly redefined. Throughout history, the criteria for belonging have changed repeatedly. The crucial political question, then, is not whether nationalism exists, but who shapes its meaning.

That challenge lies at the heart of Abandoning Democracy for the Nation. Rather than dismissing national identity outright, Filip Milačić calls on progressives and liberals to engage with it directly — and to articulate more inclusive democratic visions of national belonging before authoritarian forces monopolise the field.