In the era of virtual identities, as expatriate communities yearn for an idyllic homeland and give vent to nationalist rage in cyberspace (even as they benefit from open borders and free trade), the imagined nation is a potent force. Benedict Anderson’s argument in his seminal work `Imagined Communities’, about a nationalism that is politically powerful and philosophically poor was never more relevant. But today after Brexit and the triumph of Narendra Modi and Donald Trump, it is evident that a resounding espousal of nationhood delivers big political rewards. Patriotism was once described as the last refuge of scoundrels and nationalism was once seen as a violent ideology that fuelled two world wars. The lustre of globalization is ebbing, nationalism and patriotism are scorchingly fashionable.
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