Identity

Resumen del libro

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.

Biografía del autor

Francis Fukuyama es un ensayista, politólogo y pensador estadounidense, uno de los teóricos y escritores políticos más reconocidos y célebres del panorama internacional.<br> En la actualidad es senior fellow en el Instituto Freeman Spogli de Estudios Internacionales de la Universidad de Stanford y dirige su Centro para la Democracia, el Desarrollo y el Estado de Derecho. Con anterioridad, fue profesor en la Escuela Paul H. Nitze de Estudios Internacionales Avanzados, de la Universidad Johns Hopkins, y en la Escuela de Políticas Públicas de la Universidad George Mason.<br> Además, entre otros cargos, Fukuyama ha sido investigador en la Corporación RAND y subdirector de Planificación de Políticas del Departamento de Estado de Estados Unidos.<br> Saltó a la fama por su libro El fin de la Historia y el último hombre en 1992, que se convirtió en un auténtico clásico contemporáneo y que ha sido traducido a más de 20 idiomas. En Deusto se han publicado gran parte de sus obras traducidas al español.