Age of Anger

1. Current Global Anger Echoes Europe's Modernization Trauma

The unprecedented political, economic and social disorder that accompanied the rise of the industrial capitalist economy in nineteenth-century Europe, and led to world wars, totalitarian regimes and genocide in the first half of the twentieth century, is now infecting much vaster regions and bigger populations.

History repeats. The bewildering anger and disorder seen globally today – from ISIS violence to nationalist surges and political upheavals like Brexit and Trump's election – are not entirely new phenomena. They mirror the profound dislocations, resentments, and radical ideologies that emerged in 19th and early 20th century Europe as it transitioned to industrial capitalism and mass politics. This earlier period saw the rise of aggressive nationalism, nihilism, aestheticized violence, and demagogues exploiting widespread discontent.

Shared fate. Large parts of Asia and Africa, first exposed to modernity through European imperialism, are now experiencing a similar, often more intense, version of Europe's fateful encounter with modernity. The shock waves of economic change, social upheaval, and the weakening of traditional authorities are creating fertile ground for anger and radicalism across the globe. This suggests a shared, rather than clashing, experience of modernity's disruptive force.

Beyond simple explanations. Attributing today's violence solely to religious extremism or a "clash of civilizations" is insufficient. A deeper understanding requires re-examining the historical patterns of disorder that accompanied modernity's spread, recognizing the psychological and intellectual affinities between seemingly disparate movements, and acknowledging that the West's own history of modernization was far from peaceful or linear.

2. Triumphalist "Western Model" Failed to Explain Disorder

It has become progressively clearer that political elites in the West, unable to junk an addiction to drawing lines in the sand, regime change and re-engineering native moeurs, don’t seem to know what they are doing and what they are bringing about.

Post-Cold War illusion. Following the fall of the Berlin Wall, a consensus emerged that liberal capitalism and democracy represented the "end of history," destined to spread globally and bring prosperity and peace. This "Western model" triumphalism, often promoted by Western elites and institutions, assumed a linear, inevitable path of progress for all societies, leading to secularism, rationality, and stable governance.

Reality bites. This optimistic narrative has collapsed in the face of persistent global chaos, economic crises, and the rise of illiberal movements. The promised universal civilization harmonized by free markets and democracy has not materialized. Instead, globalization has weakened old authorities and empowered unpredictable new actors, from terrorists to authoritarian leaders and nationalist populists.

Crippling amnesia. The failure stems partly from a selective historical memory that obscured the violence, exploitation, and social disorder inherent in the West's own modernization process. Sanitized histories presented the Enlightenment and Western progress as unproblematic norms, quarantining events like world wars and totalitarianism as monstrous aberrations rather than potential outcomes of modernization itself. This intellectual blindness left elites unprepared for the recurrence of similar phenomena elsewhere, and even at home.

3. Modernity's Promise Born from Contradictory Enlightenment Ideas

The revolutionary tradition with its concepts of democracy, the pursuit of liberty, and equality moved quickly from the economically developed and politically complex ancien régimes of the Atlantic West to the simpler ancien régimes of Prussia, Austria and Russia, before taking root in Asia and Africa.

Shift to human agency. The Enlightenment marked a radical break from the past, replacing divine authority with human reason as the basis for understanding and shaping the world. Thinkers like Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Kant envisioned a secular, rational society where individuals, guided by self-interest and reason, could achieve progress, prosperity, and freedom through commerce and science.

Unintended consequences. While promoting ideals of liberty and equality, the Enlightenment's focus on individual self-interest and rational reform from above contained inherent contradictions. The philosophes, often part of a rising, ambitious class, sought a meritocratic society that benefited them, not necessarily universal democracy. Their contempt for the "ignorant masses" and reliance on enlightened despots revealed a tension between universal ideals and class interests.

Seeds of conflict. The emphasis on individual rights and the pursuit of wealth, while dismantling old hierarchies, also sowed the seeds of new conflicts. The "desire for equality," as Tocqueville noted, became "more insatiable as equality is greater." This impulse, combined with the dislocations of industrial capitalism and the rise of mass politics, would fuel radical egalitarian movements and challenges to the liberal order that the Enlightenment thinkers themselves could not have fully anticipated.

4. Rousseau Foresaw Modernity's Soul-Killing Alienation and Ressentiment

What makes Rousseau, and his self-described ‘history of the human heart’, so astonishingly germane and eerily resonant is that, unlike his fellow eighteenth-century writers, he described the quintessential inner experience of modernity for most people: the uprooted outsider in the commercial metropolis, aspiring for a place in it, and struggling with complex feelings of envy, fascination, revulsion and rejection.

Critique from the margins. While Enlightenment philosophes celebrated commercial society, Rousseau, an outsider, saw its dark side. He argued that a society based on competition, vanity, and the pursuit of wealth corrupted human nature, leading to hypocrisy, insincerity, and a profound sense of alienation. He saw individuals becoming slaves to the opinions and desires of others (amour propre), losing their authentic selves.

The birth of ressentiment. Rousseau's focus on the psychological costs of inequality and social comparison anticipated the modern phenomenon of ressentiment – a simmering resentment born from envy, humiliation, and powerlessness. He understood how the gap between the promise of individual freedom and the reality of social constraints and inequalities would breed bitterness and a longing for a more authentic, unified community.

Prophet of discontent. Rousseau's powerful articulation of these feelings resonated deeply, particularly with those who felt marginalized by the emerging modern world. His critique of cosmopolitan elites and his idealization of simple communities and patriotic virtue provided a vocabulary for later anti-modern and nationalist movements, making him a crucial, albeit often unacknowledged, forebear of many modern ideologies of both the left and the right.

5. German Romantics Forged Cultural Nationalism from Ressentiment

In contrast to the Rights of Man, and the Atlantic West’s notion of the abstract universal individual equipped with reason, the Germans offered a vision of human beings defined in all their modes of thinking, feeling and acting by their membership of a cultural community.

Reaction to dominance. German thinkers, feeling politically backward and culturally overshadowed by France, responded to the Enlightenment's universalism and the French Revolution's impact by developing a counter-tradition. Inspired by Rousseau's critique of French society, they emphasized the importance of unique national culture (Kultur) rooted in language, tradition, and shared history, contrasting it with superficial French civilization (Zivilisation).

The Volk ideal. This led to the idealization of the Volk – an organic national community embodying profound traditional values. This concept provided a source of pride and identity for Germans struggling with political fragmentation and cultural insecurity. It shifted the focus from abstract individual rights to collective identity and belonging.

From culture to politics. Napoleon's invasion and occupation of German lands intensified this cultural defensiveness, transforming Romanticism into a potent political nationalism. Humiliation by a foreign power fueled a desire for national unity and strength, often expressed through militaristic myths and a search for internal enemies (like cosmopolitan Jews) to purify the Volk and achieve a mythical wholeness.

6. Mazzini and Others Spread Messianic Nationalism to Latecomers

Perhaps even accurate knowledge of his failures would not have dispelled Mazzini’s aura in Asia. For this fervent reader of Ossian was the perfect prophet for an early generation of emulous nationalists – in India and China as well as Ireland and Argentina – who despaired over their own somnolent and unenlightened masses, and their inability to summon them to concerted action.

Exporting the nation-religion. Figures like Giuseppe Mazzini, the Italian nationalist, transformed the German idea of cultural nationalism into a messianic political religion. Mazzini's vision of national "resurrection" and Italy's destiny to lead humanity resonated deeply with intellectuals in other countries lacking statehood or feeling left behind by Western progress.

Duty over rights. Mazzini emphasized "Duties to Man" and the surrender of individual interests to the nation's well-being, a message appealing in societies where individual rights seemed abstract or unattainable. His blend of religious fervor and political activism, promoting martyrdom and sacrifice for the national cause, provided a template for mobilizing populations beyond traditional loyalties.

Global emulation. Mazzini's ideas spread widely, inspiring nationalist movements across Europe, Asia, and Latin America (e.g., Young China, Young Turkey, Young India). These "mimic men," often educated in Western styles but feeling marginalized, adapted his concepts to their own contexts, seeking to forge unified nations and achieve international standing through a blend of invented tradition, cultural pride, and a will to power, often mirroring the very Western powers they resented.

7. Nihilism and Anarchy Emerge from Failed Promises and Impotence

Bakunin makes it possible to understand a puzzle about the contemporary partisans of violence: men who concern themselves with none of the problems that exercise both liberal reformers and radical revolutionaries.

Disillusionment sets in. The failure of the 1848 revolutions and the consolidation of bourgeois power led to widespread disillusionment with both liberal and socialist promises of progress. This era saw the rise of nihilism – a sense of meaninglessness and a rejection of established values and authorities, fueled by the perceived failure of both God and the "spirit of history" to provide order or purpose.

The will to destroy. Mikhail Bakunin, a key figure in this period, articulated a radical anarchism that went beyond political reform or even class revolution. He saw the state and all forms of authority as inherently oppressive, arguing that true freedom lay in the instinct to revolt and destroy. For Bakunin, the "passion for destruction" was a "creative passion," a way for the disenfranchised individual to assert their will against a suffocating reality.

Violence as expression. Bakunin's ideas, particularly his emphasis on individual will and the rejection of all constraints, resonated with those who felt politically impotent and alienated. This contributed to the rise of "propaganda by the deed" – acts of spectacular violence aimed at shocking society and asserting the existence and moral integrity of the rebel, a pattern seen in anarchist terrorism of the late 19th century and echoed in contemporary acts of violence.

8. Today's Anger Reflects Historical Patterns in a Globalized Age

The appeal of demagogues of all kinds, from Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan to India’s Narendra Modi, France’s Marine Le Pen and America’s Donald Trump, have tapped into the simmering reservoirs of cynicism, boredom and discontent.

Recurring themes. The historical patterns of ressentiment, nationalism, and nihilism are clearly visible in today's global landscape. Leaders like Trump, Modi, and Erdogan exploit feelings of being left behind by globalization, targeting cosmopolitan elites and minorities as scapegoats, much like demagogues in 19th-century Europe blamed Jews or liberals for social ills.

Globalization's double edge. While connecting the world, globalization also exacerbates inequalities and insecurities, weakening traditional social contracts and national authorities. This creates a fertile ground for identity politics and a retreat into tribalism, as people seek belonging and security in ethnic, religious, or national groups amidst the flux of the global economy.

New forms of old anger. Contemporary phenomena like ISIS, while seemingly rooted in religious ideology, also reflect historical patterns of nihilism and the will to power among those alienated by failed modernization and political dysfunction. Their use of technology and global networks allows for a decentralized, unpredictable form of violence that echoes Bakunin's anarchist vision, demonstrating that the anger born from modernity's dislocations is far from spent.

9. Globalization Intensifies Ressentiment and Tribalism

In our state of negative solidarity, ‘universal ruin’, as Baudelaire warned, has become ‘apparent in the baseness of our hearts’.

Uneven playing field. Globalization, characterized by mobile capital and accelerated communication, has created a vast, interconnected world where individuals are constantly exposed to images of wealth and success. However, the opportunities for achieving this success are grossly unequal, leading to widespread frustration, envy, and a heightened sense of humiliation among those left behind.

Weakened bonds. The globalized economy and the emphasis on individual self-interest have weakened traditional social structures (family, community, state welfare) that once buffered individuals from economic shocks. This leaves people more exposed and isolated, intensifying feelings of insecurity and making them susceptible to ideologies that promise belonging and protection.

Scapegoating the "other". In this climate of insecurity and resentment, tribalism and scapegoating flourish. Minorities, immigrants, and cosmopolitan elites become convenient targets for the unfocused anger of those who feel powerless. This dynamic is visible globally, fueling anti-immigrant sentiment, ethnic nationalism, and religious chauvinism in both the West and the non-West.

10. The Crisis is Deeply Personal and Challenges Core Modern Assumptions

The contradictions and costs of a minority’s progress, long suppressed by historical revisionism, blustery denial and aggressive equivocation, have become visible on a planetary scale.

Inner turmoil. The age of anger is not just a political or economic crisis; it is deeply personal. The mismatch between the modern promise of unlimited individual freedom and the reality of limited opportunities creates profound psychological distress, leading to feelings of inadequacy, estrangement, and a desperate search for meaning and identity.

Failure of the individual ideal. The core modern assumption that a society of self-interested, rational individuals would naturally lead to progress and well-being has proven flawed. In a world of massive inequality and opaque global forces, the autonomous individual often feels powerless and adrift, leading to a retreat into either aggressive self-assertion or a craving for authoritarian control.

Beyond simple answers. Understanding this crisis requires looking beyond conventional political and economic analyses. It demands acknowledging the historical roots of our present predicament, recognizing the psychological dimensions of anger and ressentiment, and confronting the uncomfortable truth that the dislocations of modernity, first experienced in Europe, are now a shared global fate, challenging the very foundations of our modern world.

Last updated: May 30, 2025