War is coming. In Tribalization Koert Debeuf depicts war as an inevitable outcome should the current decreasing of democracy and globalization continue. To describe this worldwide process towards more authoritarian nationalism and fundamentalism The author coins the term tribalization to describe this worldwide process, towards a more authoritarian nationalism and fundamentalism, and reminds his readership of the highly similar 1930s. The election of Donald Trump as president of the United States, the dangerous politics of world leaders like Vladimir Putin, and terrorism are but a few exponents of the worldwide tribalization process that is currently fuelling geopolitics.
Leaving traditional explanations aside, Debeuf explains the continuous historical interaction between globalization and tribalization not merely as a economic or political phenomenon. Tribalization is collective psychology, it interrupts globalization when communities react to collective trauma by returning to their mythical, tribal past. Debeuf’s insights are based on history and psychology but also on his personal experience during the Arab Revolution, and during his previous political functions, both as an advisor to the former Belgian Prime Minister and as European Union official.
