others, Confucius stands forever ready to be re-enlisted for supporting claims to
civilization identities, which nowadays once again compete with national
identities in shaping patterns of cohesion and conflict. Islam, too, exemplifies
this tendency, which is the result of an interactive process of how it is portrayed
in the Western world and how it functions as a reinvigorated source of identity
across national borders, from Morocco to Indonesia. Many internal differences
and rivalries between Islamic-majority countries notwithstanding, the same
countries often act in unison on the international stage, while many in Europe
and the United States perceive a Muslim threat, however ill defined, and take
measures to counter it.
Democracy and the identity discourse
The two faces of identity politics become visible here, our identity and your
identity as we and you construct them for ourselves and mutually. Whatever
criteria are used in the process, stereotyping is inevitable and likely to produce
much misunderstanding. In high-income countries, this is particularly
problematic, as many immigrant groups have adopted the Western notion of
identity and with it an ethnic claim to difference. Politically the movability of
identities across national borders raises the question of who should be in charge
of managing the inevitable structural changes of society, the natives or the
newcomers.
Identity politics makes this look like an either–or alternative, partly because the
idea of the nation state still holds sway over the political organization of the
world and our understanding of it. It implies exclusionism, that is, a sharp line
between those who belong and those who do not, those who have the right to
determine the identity of a place and those who should accept it, adapt to it, or
leave. Recognizing a new (ethnic, religious, gender, linguistic) identity thus
becomes a controversial issue of national and local politics. For democracies it
poses a dilemma, for the imperative of equal rights for all is hard to reconcile
with asserting my identity while denying yours.
This dilemma is rooted in the very notion of identity. Having a collective identity
is different from indulging certain tastes, having preferences, speaking one
language better than another, and allying oneself with one religious tradition
rather than another. Identity is not seen as a matter of choice. Those who
emphasize identity rarely acknowledge its constructed and thus adaptable nature,