Identity

Identity

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In 2014, Francis Fukuyama wrote that American institutions were in decay, as the state was progressively captured by powerful interest groups. Two years later, his predictions were borne out by the rise to power of a series of political outsiders whose economic nationalism and authoritarian tendencies threatened to destabilize the entire international order. These populist nationalists seek direct charismatic connection to „the people“, who are usually defined in narrow identity terms that offer an irresistible call to an in-group and exclude large parts of the population as a whole.

Demand for recognition of one’s identity is a master concept that unifies much of what is going on in world politics today. The universal recognition on which liberal democracy is based has been increasingly challenged by narrower forms of recognition based on nation, religion, sect, race, ethnicity, or gender, which have resulted in anti-immigrant populism, the upsurge of politicized Islam, the fractious “identity liberalism” of college campuses, and the emergence of white nationalism. Populist nationalism, said to be rooted in economic motivation, actually springs from the demand for recognition and therefore cannot simply be satisfied by economic means. The demand for identity cannot be transcended; we must begin to shape identity in a way that supports rather than undermines democracy.

Identity is an urgent and necessary book―a sharp warning that unless we forge a universal understanding of human dignity, we will doom ourselves to continuing conflict.

 

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Francis Fukuyama is a senior lecturer at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. He was a professor of International Political Economy at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University and at the George Mason University School of Public Policy. Fukuyama was also a researcher at the RAND Corporation. He is the author of numerous books, the most famous of which are The End of History and the Last Man, Trust, The End of Man and State-Building.

 

  • ISBN: 978-953-8075-81-0
  • Dimensions: 138x195 mm
  • Number of pages: 284
  • Cover: hard cover
  • Year of the edition: 2020
  • Original title: Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment
  • Original language: English
  • Translation: Višeslav Raos

„Fukuyama explains political phenomena in a completely new way - he does not measure economic indicators, but the strength of national identity. The theses in the book are provocative, especially given the views that unconditionally celebrate political correctness, but prove that people are determined not only by their interests, but also by their identity.“
prof. dr. sc. Tihomir Cipek


„Fukuyama recognizes the sources of identity in a number of older sources, from ancient Greek philosophy through the Protestant Reformation and the Enlightenment to the first nationalist tones in European revolutions and anti-colonial movements. The author expertly describes the inevitable process of instrumentalization of identity with accompanying populism in almost all political movements and regimes.“
prof. dr. sc. Vjeran Katunarić