White Nationalism

Disclaimer: This dictionary term is meant to act as a red-blue translator to help you understand how people of different political stripes use, think, or feel about the same word or phrase. The Red Blue Dictionary is not meant to provide a concrete, final definition of hot-button words, but rather, to help people better understand one another.

White nationalism typically refers to a belief in a white ethnostate, i.e., that government policies in white-majority countries should preserve and privilege the white race and its culture above the interests and cultures of all other races. This can include a belief in the need for strong borders/limited immigration, and government policies that protect and aid the flourishing and continuation of white people. However, like the term “white supremacy,” the term “white nationalism” has taken on a much broader use beyond its earlier, more black-and-white meaning. Indeed, the term “white nationalism” has come to more loosely refer to anything that presumes superiority of the dominant culture in America or Europe. It has also been used interchangeably with the term “white supremacy,” although “white nationalism” has not always referred to views of racial superiority, but rather, to a system of government in which the state and its laws prioritize and privilege the preservation of a dominant people in a particular area. “White nationalism” can thus reference a belief in the right to ethno-states or nationalism in general, including black nationalism, hispanic or Mexican nationalism, or other forms of ethno-nationalism in which separate races and their distinct cultures, beliefs and customs are contained, supported, and preserved by the governments of their individual nation-states. “White nationalism” (or other forms of ethnonationalism) stand at odds with beliefs in the merits of concepts like multiculturalism, high levels of immigration, and anti-discrimination.