The Greening of Nationalism: Nationalising Nature in Europe

Nationalism and ecologism figure prominently in contemporary politics. These trends have been given considerable attention by scholarship. However, less attention has been paid to the ways in which nationalism has scavenged environmental discourses to enhance nationalist claims for autonomy. Similarly, environmentalist discourses may adopt a nationalist flavour to appeal to latent nationalist sentiment. In this paper I argue that nationalist movements will mine environmental discourse to enhance the legitimacy of their grievances and to widen their electoral appeal. I conclude that civic nationalists are more likely to find their values and goals compatible with those of contemporary ecologism. The goals and values of ethnic nationalism are able to appropriate naturalistic discourse, but are incompatible with those of Green political actors. I point to contemporary nationalist movements in Scotland and Wales to show how civic nationalist goals can be complemented by environmental ones.