A National Identity Crisis

In the past two decades, Québec has been racked by a series of controversies in which the religiosity of migrants and minorities has been represented as a threat to the province’s once staunchly Catholic, and now resolutely secular, identity. In Moments of Crises, Ian Morrison locates these debates within a longer history of crises within – and transformations of – Québécois identity, from the Conquest of New France in 1760 to contemporary times. He argues that rather than seeking to overcome these crises by reconsolidating national identity, Québec should look on them as opportunities to forge alternative conceptions of community, identity, and belonging.

Corruption and the perceived partiality of the justice system and state administration of Moldova have long frustrated efforts – both internal and external – to improve its domestic politics. It nevertheless remains an important partner for both the European Union and Russia, however its strategic positioning between these two powers have left its citizens stretched at times, even torn, in terms of national identity. Looking into recent domestic developments as well as the EU and Russia’s strategies towards Moldova in recent years, this study gives a brief overview of the European and Russian stakes held in Moldova and how its recent presidential election may change Moldova’s future geostrategic positioning. This study is part of the 2016-2017 HCSS StratMon.

The advance of identification technology-biometrics, identity cards, surveillance, databases, dossiers-threatens privacy, civil liberties, and related human interests. Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, demands for identification in the name of security have increased. In this insightful book, Jim Harper takes readers inside identification-a process everyone uses every day but few people have ever thought about. Using stories and examples from movies, television, and classic literature, Harper dissects identification processes and technologies, showing how identification works when it works and how it fails when it fails. Harper exposes the myth that identification can protect against future terrorist attacks. He shows that a U.S. national identification card, created by Congress in the REAL ID Act, is a poor way to secure the country or its citizens. A national ID represents a transfer of power from individuals to institutions, and that transfer threatens liberty, enables identity fraud, and subjects people to unwanted surveillance. Instead of a uniform, government-controlled identification system, Harper calls for a competitive, responsive identification and credentialing industry that meets the mix of consumer demands for privacy, security, anonymity, and accountability. Identification should be a risk-reducing strategy in a social system, Harper concludes, not a rivet to pin humans to governmental or economic machinery.

How to define a Chinese national identity remains as hotly contested a question among today's Chinese citizens as it has been among foreign observers. This volume brings together ten new essays by an interdisciplinary group of leading sinologists and offers a comprehensive framework for understanding the nature of Chinese national identity in past and contemporary settings.

Analyzes Liberian history to show how ethnic bigotry caused a toxic political, social, and cultural crisis that culminated in its civil wars from 1989 to 2003. The author also discusses theoretical models with practical methods for bridging ethnic difference, giving the work widespread relevance in conflict resolution.

As the 21st century dawns, the world is experiencing a firestorm of local and regional wars. But these wars are significantly different from other such wars during the past hundred years. The two major differences are the current advanced state of weaponry and the presence of big media simultaneously constructing different and contradicting realities. National identity mobilization is the driving force behind these disputes which UN seems unable to resolve. The Falklands-Malvinas War between Argentina and the United Kingdom is particularly instructive for understanding of regional and local wars. The participants were from different continents, cultures, military strengths and possessed vastly different basic assumptions. The author examines this war as a case study crucial to a clearer understanding of national self-images; mobilization of national identity, and aggressive decision-making. -- Amazon.com.

America was founded by settlers who brought with them a distinct culture including the English language, Protestant values, individualism, religious commitment, and respect for law. The waves of later immigrants came gradually accepted these values and assimilated into America's Anglo-Protestant culture. More recently, however, national identity has been eroded by the problems of assimilating massive numbers of immigrants, bilingualism, multiculturalism, the devaluation of citizenship, and the "denationalization" of American élites. September 11 brought a revival of American patriotism, but already there are signs that this is fading. This book shows the need for us to reassert the core values that make us Americans.--From publisher description.