William de Berg, THE FATAL CONTRADICTIONS OF IDENTITY POLITICS

William de Berg For much of modern history, tribal and other identities have been subjugated to larger, national allegiances, as in the formation of the major nations of Europe such as Germany and Italy and the creation of new states elsewhere in the world by colonial powers.   But in the past few decades, particularly in the Europe and the United States, a reverse trend has occurred—namely, the encouragement of separate ethnic, racial, religious, and gender identities within nation states.   There are two main reasons for this:  1) a deliberate attempt…