POLITICS

Significance of Identity/Difference Relations for Analysis of International Politics

Significance of Identity/Difference Relations for Analysis of International Politics

Introduction

The idea of identity in international relations continues to be a major cause of concern in international politics. There have been a number of nations that have been forced to remark there territorial boundaries solely due to identity issues. It is due to this concern that over the past century the rate at which new nations have come into existence has been high. Ethnic groups are continuously campaigning for their right to autonomy and self-determination. The creation of new states has also led to significant changes to the scope of international relations as it alters the conventional concept of a state and nation. Since 1964, the idea of a state has continued to evolve. The first such incident was the birth of the Westphalia concept of national sovereignty. The Westphalian concept was created to introduce sovereignty in order to attain the right to self-determination. This served as an opportunity for ethnic minorities all around the world to raise their voices for freedom consequently leading a number of separatist movements against the countries that ruled them. The result of such movements was that it developed a form of homogenous state in which the population would belong to the same ethnic background, religious beliefs, culture and heritage, and identity (Doty, 1993: 443-448).

The call of autonomy or self-determination is due to the reason that these minorities were not provided with their rights to religious or cultural freedom and in a number of did not render the right to speak the language of their ancestors. This led to the creation of a state system where there was merely one culture that dominated the others. Nonetheless, for the purpose of argument, one can say that self-determination or autonomy in today's era should not result in separation. Today, it can be used to raise their concerns in front of the government to persuade changes in the state that would allow minorities to practice their religion and culture without fear. It is rather feasible to create new provinces rather than nations by using the idea of developing unity by making use of the diverse nature of the population and provide equal opportunity to all (Adamson, 2007: 489-490).

Internal self-determination can be understood in the way that minorities can stake a claim to autonomy in terms of religious practices and protection of their culture and identity. Moreover, these minorities by any stretch of imagination have the right to disrupt the balance of political community of the country citing struggle to gain rights. The logical question remains that what gain could any parties achieve by initiating civil unrest or war when they can work to gain autonomy by remaining in the same state?

Discussion

For the better part of the previous century, political theory and international relations have been employed to create separatist movements, creation of new states and intellectual autonomy. In academics regarding international relations, theory has been seen as collection of cause and effect ...