Militarism and Nationalism in Contemporary Europe

Abstract

The past decade in Europe has been characterized by significant political and social upheaval. The rise of anti-immigrant, nativist, and populist movements, the erosion of traditional party systems, widening socioeconomic inequalities, and increasing political polarization have all contributed to a growing sense of instability. While the 2016 Brexit referendum disrupted the trajectory of European integration, Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine sent profound shockwaves across the continent. For many observers, these developments appeared sudden and unexpected. Prevailing interpretations of European modernity had long assumed that nationalism and large-scale warfare no longer belonged in contemporary Europe, treating nationalism as a remnant of the nineteenth century and viewing organized violence as steadily declining. In this presentation, I challenge these assumptions by re-centring the role of nationalism and militarism in European history. Drawing on a longue durée sociological perspective, I argue that recent events are not historical anomalies but part of a broader and enduring pattern: military power and nationalism have risen in a relatively continuous manner throughout modernity.

Bio

Siniša Malešević is a Full Professor of Comparative Historical Sociology at the University College, Dublin. He is a member of Royal Irish Academy, Academia Europaea and ANUBIH. He is also a Senior Fellow at CNAM, Paris, France. Previously he held research and teaching appointments at IMRO, Zagreb, the Centre for the Study of Nationalism, CEU Prague, University of Galway, the London School of Economics, the Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Uppsala University, NIOD, Amsterdam, and the Centre for Subjectivity Research, University of Copenhagen.

Malešević’s recent books include Nationalism as a Way of Life (Cambridge UP, 2025, honourable mention, 2026 Hedley Bull Prize), Why Humans Fight (Cambridge UP, 2022, winner of the American Sociological Association PWSC outstanding book award 2023), Grounded Nationalisms (Cambridge UP, 2019, honourable mention 2020 Stein Rokkan Prize) and The Rise of Organised Brutality (Cambridge UP, 2017, winner of the American Sociological Association PWSC outstanding book award 2018). He has also authored over 150 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, and his work has been translated into 14 languages.

Moderator: Christophe Wasinski, Université libre de Bruxelles (REPI | CREG)
Registration required by December 8: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/e/GxPsMXXHGm?origin=lprLink

Thursday, December 10th, 2026

REPI Université libre de Bruxelles
IEE RT39 – Spaak Room
39 avenue Franklin Roosevelt
1050 Bruxelles

Seminar Cycle Programme : Les reconfigurations du sens commun guerrier - REPI - Recherche et Etudes en Politique Internationale