Summary of the book Globalization and Kurdish Nationalism
Author: Loghman Ghanbari PhD in Political Science
Publisher: Kitab i- Arzan
Place of publication: Sweden
Year of publication: 2025
Printing: First edition

Today, globalization has not only affected the objective field of political and social life of Kurds, but it has also affected the field of theory and methodology related to the study of Kurdish nationalism. In other words, it seems that the dynamics prevalent in globalization have largely undermined the old analytical scales of understanding the foundations of Kurdish identity and nationalism within the realm of nation-states.

In fact, according to the Views of globalization theorists, it can be said that in the era of globalization, with the dislodged of the idea of Kurdish nationalism from colonialist geopolitical bottlenecks, talking about the category of Kurdish identity and nationalism in the framework of the assumptions of methodological nationalism will not be very useful for understanding the current situation of Kurdish nationalist movements.
In fact, Kurdish nationalism in the era of globalization is connecting and interacting with other phenomena and vast areas of trans-spatial-temporal or trans-territoriality; in other words, globalization today as a structure with new opportunities provides the possibility for us to explore Kurdish nationalism with the help of methodological cosmopolitanism in the form of a panoramic view and above the constraints of colonial geopolitics and methodological nationalism.
Basically, Rely on methodological globalism in analyzing the current situation of the Kurds and the problematic of Kurdish identity and nationalism will give us the ability to understand and interpret Kurdish nationalism in the context of globalization in a better and more realistic way.
As we know, in the classical paradigm of Kurdish studies, more attempts were made to investigate Kurdish nationalism within the territory of the colonial nation-states on the basis of the reductionist viewpoint of the nationalist methodology.
But in the globalization sociology paradigm, efforts are made to study and explore the Kurdish nationalist movements in relation to the dimensions and processes of political, communication-informational and cultural globalization. Overall, it can be noted that on the one hand; globalization as an external and transformative reality has not only transformed the Kurdish life-world; but also as an analytical and methodological indicator in social sciences, it has led us to discuss and evaluate Kurdish nationalism in the contexts and opportunities arising from globalization.
In this regard, it can be said that globalization trends have affected Kurdish nationalism in the following ways:
- Firstly, globalization is, on the one hand, an ontological challenge for the Sykes-Picot states in the Arab Middle East, and on the other hand, an opportunity for the emergence and manifestation of the Kurdish geopolitical subjectivity to overcome the exploitative and imposed geopolitical structure on the land of Greater Kurdistan and the Kurdish people. The geopolitics of colonialism emphasizes domination and control over Kurdish lands, but globalization is a process that blurs borders and provides countless interactions and opportunities for the liberation of the Kurds.
On the other hand, in the era of globalization, the increase in transnational/supranational relations and the role of the Kurdish diaspora as a strategic agent for advancing nationalism outside the Kurdish lands is increasing. Therefore, in the era of globalization, Kurdish nationalism is theorized by diaspora communities and subsequently practiced in their original homelands.
Furthermore, from a territorial perspective, it can be noted that globalization has provided a kind of deterritorialization and the development of extraterritorial relations among Kurdish subjects as carriers of the Kurdish nationalist question. In fact, deterritorialization has led to greater solidarity and communication among Kurdish activists in the field of Kurdish identity and nationalism.
- At the same time, globalization has led to the emergence of identity politics among Kurds. Identity, as an effect and impact of relationships, is understood through the expression of differences. In fact, identities have a dialectical dimension of the relationship between self and other; and it is an ongoing and constantly evolving process. It seems that if we accept that one of the important pillars of globalization is the importance of the logic of identity difference, then globalization can be said to be an opportunity for the rebirth of Kurdish identity and nationalism.
- Today, in the era of identity politics and the decentralization of non-Kurdish identity-building super-narratives, we are witnessing a revival of Kurdish language, culture, music, literature, and cinema, and the subsequent growth and development of Kurdish national consciousness and nationalism. For example, modern technology has enabled musicians to transcend territorial boundaries and access resources to showcase their art on a global scale. Similarly, the Kurdish film industry and filmmakers have now found an opportunity to take the initiative beyond the politics of censorship and denial of their Kurdish identity and to engage in Kurdish nationalism through Kurdish cinema.
- Another important issue is that in the past few decades and in the era of globalization, the scope and scale of Kurdish research institutions have increased significantly, to the point where if once the Kurds were the objects of Orientalism, Persians, Arabs, and Turks' research, today, with the growth of opportunities resulting from the global-localization of knowledge, it has become possible for the Kurds themselves to become researchers of their own history, culture, and identity.
- It is also important to note that in the context of globalization studies, we are witnessing the emergence of new terminologies in political literature by Kurdish and non-Kurdish scholars. For example, we can mention new concepts such as Kurdish parliament in exile, Kurdish transnationalism, Kurdish subsystem or subsystem, Kurdish geopolitical subjectivity, geneology, Kurdish digital nationalism, Kurdish diaspora, Kurdish cyber nation, and Kurdish public digital sphere; therefore, it can be said that in the era of globalization and in response to the transformation that has occurred in the objective sphere of life of Kurdish communities, many concepts in the analysis of Kurdish nationalism have subsequently undergone semantic changes and transformations.
- In addition, with the expansion of new communication and information technologies and the diversification of the Kurdish media market in the era of globalization, it seems that the monopoly of the production of meaning and truth by the media, education, and culture of the dominant states has faced a fundamental challenge. In other words, globalization in the dimension of new communication technologies, by challenging the monopoly of the production of meaning, has given the Kurdish identity a new field and opportunity to redefine itself; in other words, the globalization of new communication media has provided the Kurds with the possibility of increasing their awareness beyond the areas under the control of the colonial state.
- Also, inspired by the thought of Gilles Deleuze, it can be said that in the era of modern communication media, the Kurdish nationalist movement will be networked, dynamic and decentralized in accordance with the model of rhizomatic movements. In other words, it seems that in the era of globalization, the existence of Kurdish nationalist movements is no longer due to their hierarchical structure and central leadership; rather, it is due to their networked and interconnected nature. Rhizomatic social and political movements are movements that are formed on the basis of a mobile and decentralized network and use non-linear and fluid patterns of interactions and relationships instead of traditional hierarchical structures.
- Also, today, the abundance of satellites in the era of globalization can be considered a promise and an opportunity to realize the production and multiplication of different identity meanings according to Deleuze. In the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze, identity is a fluid and changing concept that emphasizes difference and repetition instead of stability and uniformity. Therefore, access to satellite channels is of fundamental importance for the revival of identity, especially for nations without a state, including the Kurds and nations whose language and culture have been subjected to entropy by the system of domination.
As mentioned above, understanding the relationship between globalization and nationalism is one of the important questions in the field of political science studies, but no comprehensive research has been conducted in this regard so far. In other words, many studies have been written by those interested in the field of Kurdish studies on the history, culture, religion, geography, language, and social life of the Kurds; but it is rare to find a comprehensive book or article that explores the relationship between globalization and Kurdish nationalism. On this basis, the present study attempts to explore the obvious and hidden aspects of the relationship between globalization and Kurdish nationalism, while also covering the research gap in this field.

In general, in order to facilitate the understanding and organization of the contents of this research, the entire text of this book has been planned and divided into three chapters.

In the first chapter; titled “Globalization and Nationalism”, the author, while introducing globalization as a complex set of processes that have affected many aspects of human life in various and interactive ways, seeks to explore the relationship between globalization and nationalism. In fact, this chapter has been designed as an introduction to the two concepts of globalization and nationalism and their relationship. It is clear that globalization and nationalism and the relationship between these two are complex and controversial issues among researchers in the field of political science and international relations.
In the second chapter; Under the title Kurdish Nationalism and Geopolitics, the author has at first tried to address three different perspectives of the eternalists, ethnicists and modernists regarding the theoretical foundations of Kurdish nationalism under the topic of the historical and theoretical origins of Kurdish nationalism. Also, in the continuation of this chapter and under the topic of the geopolitics of Greater Kurdistan, the characteristics of the Kurds in Rojhelat, Rojava, Bashur and Bakur are explored.

Finally, in the third chapter of the research entitled Globalization and Kurdish Nationalism, an attempt has been made to address the position of Kurdish nationalism in the political, cultural and technological dimensions of globalization in the following topics: 1- Globalization in the political dimension and the crisis in the Sykes-Picot state and subsequently the emergence and manifestation of Kurdish subjectivity in the region. 2- Globalization and the diversity of Kurdish actors. 3- The emergence of the Kurdish subsystem or political space. 4- Globalization and the Kurds' escape from the territorial trap. 5- Universal human rights and Kurdish nationalism. 6- Popular nationalism and the transition from elitism and militarism. 7- Geneological thought and the critique of positivist knowledge. 8- Globalization and the Kurdish diaspora. 9- Kurdish diaspora and nationalism from a distance. 10- Diaspora and the transnationalization of the Kurdish issue .11- Diaspora and associations Kurdish transnationalism. 12-Globalization; Kurdish identity and nationalism. 13-Language of origin of Kurdish national identity. 14-Literature and the category of Kurdish identity .15-Globalization; Kurdish cinema and the representation of national identity .16-Globalization; collective memory and the process of identification .17-Globalization and Kurdishology studies .18-Studies of Kurdish post-orientalism in the era of globalization .19-Globalization; new communication technologies and Kurdish nationalism .20-Kurdish cybernationalism. 21-Kurdish satellite television and national consciousness 22-Globalization and Kurdish online diasporic communities .23-Kurds and the digital public space .24-New communication technologies and Kurdish movements. [1]