Identity and Globalization

Globalisation as a process of connecting space and interlinking structures of production and governance inevitably affects the existing structures of identification. On the one hand, we observe how globalization has dethroned the role of the nation-state as the principal container for collective identification and has opened up spaces for the creation of new transnational, universal, or cosmopolitan attachments. On the other hand, the increased economic, cultural, and political interdependence has triggered sharp responses in the form of renewed relevance of national and subnational identities, the redrawing of collective boundaries, and the political mobilisation of identities in various contexts and at different levels. In sum, collective belonging has remained central to the momentous contemporary social changes we are witnessing with globalisation. The worry of some that the reasserted relevance of identity politics could even mark the limits of what seemed like an unstoppable march of global interdependence and transnational governance further illustrates this point. As the relationship between globalisation and the re-configuration of identities has become increasingly politically salient across the globe, it merits renewed scholarly attention. The section aims at shedding light on such a complex and multifaceted relationship between identity and globalisation processes. The section is interested both in the impact globalisation exerts on various identity processes and how the identity politics are formulated and implemented as responses to globalisation. Therefore, our focus is on ongoing reformulations of identity occurring against the background of the phenomena labelled as ‘globalisation’, ‘internationalisation’, ‘integration’, ‘transnationalisation’, ‘re-bordering’, ‘hybridisation’. In particular, the section is interested in how these phenomena affect the historically established identities in political and social domains, and how the latter are deployed in response to the different facets of globalisation (migration and mobilities, free trade, supranational integration, or increased cultural heterogeneity, among others). As globalisation is associated with shifting political and social boundaries, the section stresses processes of re-definition and reinforcement of collective identities. The panels will highlight, for instance, identity politics as responses to globalisation in terms of renewal or reaffirmation of established political and social boundaries. Panels will also explore the dynamics of construction and reproduction of new political and social identities under conditions of increased cultural heterogeneity and shifting cultural and political boundaries. Based on the scholarly network of the ECPR Standing Group on Identity, the section will focus on the relationship between identity and globalisation in several main areas: • Globalisation pressures on identity • Globalised diversity as a reference point for identity politics • Defending identity against globalisation • Identity and transnational migration • Identity and backlash to globalisation • Identity in transnational governance • Global and transnational mobilisation of identity • Hybrid identities and globalisation • Minority identities and globalisation • Populist mobilisation of identity The section aims to bring together scholars that could offer new insights and fresh perspectives based on empirical as well as theoretically grounded research on these topics.