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Identity in Global Politics
IB DP Global Politics — HL extension: Global political challenges | HL | Identity
📋 What You Will Learn
- Define identity and distinguish its individual, collective and political dimensions
- Explain how identity is constructed, contested and mobilised as a political force
- Analyse how identity intersects with power, sovereignty, legitimacy and interdependence
- Compare how different theoretical perspectives interpret identity politics and identity-based conflict
- Examine contemporary case studies in which identity shapes political outcomes at multiple levels
- Evaluate the claim that identity politics is a threat to — or a necessary expression of — democratic legitimacy
🔍 Guiding Question When political communities are defined by competing identities — national, ethnic, religious, gender, or otherwise — whose identity counts as the basis for legitimate political authority, and who decides?
🌍 Why This Matters In 2024, elections across India, the United States, Hungary, and Indonesia were fought substantially over questions of national, religious, and ethnic identity — who belongs, who is excluded, and whose values should govern. Identity is not merely a social category; it is one of the most potent forces shaping who holds power, whose rights are recognised, and how states define their place in the world.
🔑 Key Concept Link Identity engages all four key concepts simultaneously. Power is exercised through identity — dominant groups define norms and marginalise others. Sovereignty is contested when sub-national or transnational identities challenge the state's claim to represent "the people." Legitimacy depends on whether a government is seen to represent the identities of those it governs. Interdependence is complicated by identity: global flows of people, ideas and culture both dissolve and harden identity boundaries. Return to these links throughout.
What Is Identity?
Before examining identity as a political challenge, it is worth asking what identity actually is — and why it is contested. Identity is not a fixed property of a person or group; it is relational, constructed through interaction, and always subject to change. Yet it feels deeply personal, which is precisely what makes it politically explosive.
📖 Definition — Identity Identity refers to the characteristics, values, beliefs, and affiliations — whether individual or collective — through which people understand themselves and are understood by others. In global politics, identity is significant because it shapes how groups organise, make claims on power, and relate to political institutions.
Individual and collective identity
- Individual identity: the self-understanding of a person — shaped by gender, sexuality, class, religion, ethnicity, nationality, language, and lived experience.
- Collective identity: the shared sense of belonging to a group — a nation, ethnic community, religious tradition, diaspora, or social movement — that can become the basis for political action.
- Intersectionality: identities are not separate boxes; they overlap and interact. A Black Muslim woman in France experiences power and exclusion differently from any single identity category alone. Coined by legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw (1989), intersectionality is now central to critical analyses of identity in politics.
📖 Definition — Identity Politics Identity politics refers to political activity, movements, or ideologies organised around a shared identity — such as race, ethnicity, gender, religion, or sexuality — in