The rage of nations: Australia and French nuclear testing and Hong Kong and the diaoyutai/senkaku‐shotō1

Are we at a new and less conflictual stage in international relations, a post‐nationalist era marked by increasing democratisation and the effects of the ‘democratic peace proposition’? This article reports on two cases which cast some doubt on the propositions that nationalism is decreasing and that democratic societies are unlikely to develop serious conflicts. The first is the case of Australian anger at the resumption of French nuclear testing in the South Pacific in 1995; the second is the anger that swept through Hong Kong in September and October 1996 at Japan's decision to defend its claims to islands known as Diaoyutai by Chinese and Senkaku‐shoto by Japanese. This article seeks to explain the anger in each case, and to explore what implications they have for our understanding of the role of nationalism and democracy in contemporary world politics. I argue that these cases remind us that the emotionalism of nationalist ideology continues to infuse how publics approach international issues; moreover, they show that the democratic nature of the four countries involved did little to dampen these nationalist emotions.