Francis Fukuyama (2018), Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment, Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Fatima and Sabeen Azam.
Yoshihiro Francis Fukuyama, an American political scientist and author, is renowned for his influential work “The End of History and the Last Man,” which argues that liberal democracy and free-market capitalism have become dominant globally. In his book “Identity,” Fukuyama delves into the history and consequences of identity politics, highlighting its role in deepening societal divisions and polarization.
Francis Fukuyama considers politics and the election of Donald Trump as the major causes to initiate this piece. Not only was the election of Trump the essential and imperative driving force behind this book but also there were several emerging events all over the world which stimulated the motivation for writing this book, one of them being Brexit. He is of the view that liberal democracy is reluctant and vulnerable to locate the very fundamental requirements of societies through the lens of religion, identity democratization, and nationalism. The democratization of identity asserts that every individual has the fundamental right to recognition, not just specific groups. A reflection of all of Fukuyama’s works is portrayed briefly. This book explores the historical evolution of identity and how scholars have defined it over time. It manages its arguments that how liberal democracy is inadequate to provide the basic needs of people. Thymos: is part of the human soul that desires for the recognition to be recognized-identity, isothymia: this term explains the cravings of humans to be dignified equally, megalothymia: this terminology expounds a desire to be recognized as superior.
Similarly, Fukuyama illustrates these means are the driving forces of humans to manifest the underlying needs for food, shelter, and protection. Isothymia manifests that how human beings are pleased to fight for the stakes and welfare of others belonging to their identity group. People, who belong to a similar identity despite their different statuses, stand for uniformity and grasp the faced contemptuous behavior of their linkages with similar social distinction. Liberal democracy on an urgent basis is required to yield managed and organized accessibility and conveniences for megalothymia. So, as to create a free market; where each individual is served with a wide range of outlets. Isothymia and Megalothymia are political strategies used by individuals to further their self-interests, shaping identity as a means to gain recognition and achieve their goals.
The necessity of recognition of identity is the prime tool that accelerates a megalothymia leader in world politics who manifests their achievements as the gain of their identity and of their country, constituencies, and religion.
For most of his arguments, Fukuyama discusses and relies on the ideas of Martin Luther, Rousseau, Kant and Hegel; on the contrary, he is unpromising in identifying the opinions of contemporary scientists and social psychologists. Continuous current events of disruptions and political unrest are studied through the lenses of classical philosophies where he remains incompetent to grasp the national and international legal precedents. Besides this, the international society is motivated and aims to scrutinize any inappropriate action that weakens the international community’s credibility; it demotivates identity-based governmental motivations and aspirations such as enforced religious conversions, genocide of a particular ethnic indigenous group, identity-based deportation of refugees and migrants. Interestingly, the recent situations and identity politics of nations have obliged the author to revisit the core fundamental ideas of liberal democracy. Identifying and opining identity with a historical comprehension is intended to scan the philosophers of the time. He focuses on the revolutionary side of identity across contemporary events. Briefly, this philosopher’s basis of identity is persuading, but a historical event-driven assertion is assumed to be more influential and persuasive. With the help of these arguments, he says that identity and resentment are immortal cravings which go hand in hand with the evolution of human history and molds certain human behaviors.
Besides this, Fukuyama argues that the combination of national identity nurtures efficient government services, prolonged security, provide facilitation of economic and social progression emerges a trust build-up that assists economic and political interchanges, a social protection sense which initially raises economic and social equality that empowers the legitimization of liberal democracy of constitutional social contract.
Importantly, Fukuyama opines that national identity played a major role in the acceleration of social capital of those different shifts at the time of the Industrial Revolution. He mentioned that identity is not considered as a biological distinction which may help to convert the lived experiences into a shared experience. Fukuyama shows dissatisfaction towards diversity as being a paramount trait of identity. Fukuyama depicts more interest in the maintenance of a creedal identity which relies on the conventional political principles of enlightenment like higher grounds to constitutionalism, the rule of law, and democratic accountability. He viewed this as one of the paramount ways to integrate a modern liberal democracy in a multi-cultural society. Interestingly, the writer’s view sustains a liability which is incapable of addressing the union of social and institutional mandates. When individuals groom social capital within a national identity, social forces become emboldened to hold the institutions which later divides the dominance of identity from shared experiences. The institutions do show recognition of identities that exist outside of the national identity; they know this fact and accept it in policy formulation in order to provide all identities similar and equal access to the shared experience. Fukuyama thinks that these points show that people don’t really accept the American creedal system. He believes that it’s not enough and doesn’t do a good job of keeping fair values in state and local institutions. This favorable approach of the book only dominates the scope of identity parallels in Europe and the US which neglects a global scope of readers outside these regions. Fukuyama failed to address some of the perilous and decisive issues where the deficiency of formal recognition of non-national identities in any institution leads to the establishment of a vacuum where particular identities have acquired more informal power than others. Such an instance is well explainable and reflected in recruitment for law enforcement where diversity issues have found their roots deeply rooted and we can see the reflections in informal identity preferences in those institutions.
He expounds that the legacy of creedal identity cannot enfeeble the constitutional framework as it keeps improving and reforming. The US Constitution is only timely amended but never displaced. Thus, the US Constitution sustains its legacy of stability which needs to be continued despite any legacy. Fukuyama’s argument of past mistakes realization is quite paramount as the improvements of creedal identity are essential. Past mistakes and brutality of oppression should be addressed to take responsibility for our mistakes in order to become eligible enough to estimate our national progression. This determines a narrative of hope by Fukuyama instead of any sort of draconian measurements. He believes societies with larger scales of social cohesion erode fewer resources; they make more genuine efforts of integration, and connectivity which develops more assimilation. This sort of merger moulds a truly existing portrait that we keep the emotion to confront our victimhood.
In addition, the Nation’s resources are a very sensitive matter when it comes to where and how to utilize the political capital. Most of the time problems of identity are failed to get measured in a liberal democratic framework. Fukuyama is mainly estimating that Europe must revisit its national identity to a European Union Universal standard that is centralized around liberal democratic principles. This revisit results in the structure of a union-wide transition to a jus soli citizenship. This is a sort of approach like the “in for a penny, in for a pound” approach to national identity is a figurative theme across the book which creates an easy process of assimilation as an institutional approach.
Conclusion
The identity piece of Fukuyama provides its readers with a chance to elaborate on the paramount role of identity in society and human nature as a whole. It argues how the desire for identity to be recognized lies within the human nature; therefore, it struggles to fight for its recognition to be known and served equally. This book studies the rising identity crisis and the identity politics being shaped by the leaders to serve their interests by the exploitation and manipulation of the masses’ vulnerabilities. This book contributes for readers to examine how identity has evolved into our modern world and international politics. It examines how society uses these concepts to manage greater social trust through national identity. Fukuyama in the book views the expansion of national identity as a tool to measure and sort out the issues that the world and politics are suffering due to the acceleration of identity politics. Undoubtedly, national identity measurement raises shared experiences which eventually ensues in the limitation of refugees, cultural integrity and autonomy, but in the longer term, it will resolve problems and unearth remedies for this crisis. National identities result in strengthening political coalitions of people which gets based on identities of association not on ethnic or religious recognition. This is one of the only ways to overturn any sort of tactic that exploits and manipulates the masses by weaponizing identity.
Fatima is a researcher doing an MPhil in Political Science from Pakistan. Sabeen Azam is a Lecturer at the IR Department at the National University of Modern Languages, Karachi, Pakistan, she can be contacted by email, sabeen.azam@numl.edu.pk.
