Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment

　　紐約時報暢銷權威好書《政治秩序的起源》作者法蘭西斯．福山，再次大展犀利見解，對現代身分認同政治提出疑問，並探討身分政治的起源、影響及其對於國內與國際事務的意義。

　　2014 年，法蘭西斯．福山（Francis Fukuyama）在著作中提到，由於強大的商業集團逐步佔據並掌握了國家發展進程，將導致美國的政府機構不停衰退腐朽。兩年後，他的預言經由一些政治素人的崛起所證實，這些政治素人的經濟民族主義和專制傾向將很有可能破壞整個國際秩序的穩定。而這些推崇民粹主義的民族主義者不停尋求直接透過「民眾」來建立政治魅力並獲得支持，而這些「民眾」通常是劃分出某些身分族群，而排除了全部人口的絕大部分意見。

　　「身份認同」已經成為影響當今世界政治走向中最重要的原則。世界所認定的自由民主開始潛移默化的由民族、宗教、教派、種族、族群文化差異或性別等狹隘形式所認定，因此更導致了反移民的民粹主義及政治化的伊斯蘭教派開始興起，以及大學校園中的 身份認同自由主義與白人民族主義的出現。

　　「民粹民族主義」據說是根植於經濟動機之上，但實際上卻是對於認同所產生出來的情節主義，因此不能單純地用經濟面概括其成因。身份認同的重要性之於政治走向已無法逆轉，但我們可以嘗試開始以支持的方式而不是破壞民主來塑造身份認同。

　　Identity 絕對是本必須閱讀的重要著作，作者透過尖銳的警告來提醒我們，除非我們對人類尊嚴存在普世理解，否則我們將不斷置身於衝突之中。（文 / 博客來編譯）

　　The New York Times bestselling author of The Origins of Political Order offers a provocative examination of modern identity politics: its origins, its effects, and what it means for domestic and international affairs of state

　　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.

作者簡介

Fukuyama Francis

　　Francis Fukuyama is the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. He has previously taught at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University and at the George Mason University School of Public Policy. Fukuyama was a researcher at the RAND Corporation and served as the deputy director for the State Department’s policy planning staff. He is the author of Political Order and Political Decay, The Origins of Political Order, The End of History and the Last Man, Trust, and America at the Crossroads: Democracy, Power, and the Neoconservative Legacy. He lives with his wife in California.