Globalization and Belonging : The Politics of Identity in a Changing World

This book examines how globalization shapes the construction of socio-cultural and political attachments and their implications for citizenship, nationhood, ethnicity, and gender. Topics include the commodification of citizenship, the spread of nationalist populism, the rise of ISIS, and women’s transnational activism.

In the decades since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States forces of cultural, economic, and political integration appear locked in battle with equally powerful forces of fragmentation. Globalization is facilitating unprecedented movement of goods, services, people, and ideas, while calls for building walls, erecting fences, and strengthening borders intensify. Tensions flare around claims of deeply rooted ethnic and civilizational identities—identities that are shaped and mobilized via sophisticated advances in technology. Women worldwide are achieving remarkable economic and political gains while sexual violence and gender inequalities persist and are fueled by rapid global change. This book explores the complex inter-relationship between globalization and belonging. In a hyper-modern, 21st-century world, questions and conflicts surrounding who ‘we’ are and who ‘we’ want to be predominate. This book links the politics of different forms of identification and attachment to the dynamics of an increasingly interconnected world.