Over the last decades, identity is rising as a new ideology influenced by postmodernism, postcolonialism, and critical race theory.
While acknowledging the value of recognising and respecting diverse identities, Yascha Mounk invites us to be vigilant about the potential pitfalls of rigidly defining individuals solely based on their identity groups.
It is crucial to strike a balance between celebrating cultural diversity and avoiding essentialism that may inadvertently leads to exclusion and division, threatening democracy.

Yascha Mounk is professor of the Practice of International Affairs at Johns Hopkins University, a contributing Editor at The Atlantic, a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and a Moynihan Public Scholar at City College. Next spring he will be an Associate Professor at Sciences Po’s School of International Affairs.

Additional resources

• The Identity Trap:A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time, Penguin Press (2023)

• The Great Experiment. Why Diverse Democracies Fall Apart and How They Can Endure, Penguin Press (2022)

• The People vs. Democracy: Why Our Freedom is in Danger and How to Save It, Harvard University Press (2018)

Recorded on 24th November 2023

Conversations with Sergei GURIEV is a podcast by Sciences Po. Hélène NAUDET supervised the production of this series., with the help of Blanca GONZALEZ MARTINEZ, Sciences Po Master student in Political Science. The Sciences Po audio department produced and mixed it.

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