This special issue explores why the globalization backlash is roiling rich industrialized countries. But why is the backlash less salient in developing ones? In this piece, we challenge scholars to consider why the backlash has not diffused widely to the developing world. We argue support for globalization depends on citizens’ expectations of future economic mobility. This is high in the early phases of globalization which encapsulates many developing economies. Since information about globalization’s effects is limited, observed mobility of some sustains optimism that the new economic order will allow everyone to prosper. Over time, unrealized expectations of mobility for less-skilled workers puncture this optimism. Such workers in rich countries are long past the honeymoon phase of globalization and confronting realities of stagnant incomes and job precarity. Barring visionary policies unlikely to emerge from today’s polarized politics, their discontent will soon be shared by their developing country counterparts, dooming future globalization.

Globalization is facing widespread condemnation at a time when worldwide crises ranging from climate change to pandemic policy increasingly demand a coordinated response. Rising nationalist, populist, and anti-globalization movements in many of the world's richest nations are placing great pressure on the international system pioneered by Western democracies following World War II. This special issue showcases new research on the sources and types of backlash. It also considers the consequences of this backlash for democracy, for international institutions and foreign policy. We aim to broaden the debate on the causes and consequences of rising populism and nationalism and offer unique perspectives on how and why the current international order is struggling to address the many global challenges in need of large-scale cooperative solutions.