Citizenship, Identities and Politics

Abstract

We live in an age where the range of possible identities and the number of identities offered to individual’s increases, which is also the case for political identities. Understanding citizens’ political identity is crucial to our knowledge and understanding of citizenship, political behavior and as a source of conflict and use in political situations. The term, political identity, is often associated with citizens’ identities that come into play in situations which are perceived of some political salience by citizens or politicians in power. In the academic literature, political identities are referred to as very different from one another. Partisan identities have been found to be important, albeit weakening due to the decline of class identities and spread of ‘catch-all parties’. Other identities are usually defined by issues related to ethnicity, social class or geographical belonging. Furthermore local, regional, national and, particularly, global identities have become important in shaping citizens’ political identities. These identities have underscored that political identities are not stable, but fluid and continuously developing. Globalization, growing migration and the increasing number of regional conflicts cause many to live with dual identities. Dual identities are often a personal challenge and subject to inclusion as well as marginalization and exclusion in societies. Late modernity is also characterized by a relativized sense of belonging. At the same time, we have seen an increase in religious identification, specifically of identity claims based on religious membership. This should suffice to conclude that the many forms of political identities of political identities is important to citizenship and some of these is explored in this panel.

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