ABSTRACT
Over the past few years, the field of International Relations (IR) has been abuzz with talk of ‘globalisation’, ‘de-territorialisation’ and ‘identity’. The picture being painted by some IR theorists is one of a world being compressed into a single space by the forces of global capitalism, the flow of new technology, the movement of vast numbers of people and the cultural swirl of cosmopolitan ideas. The general argument seems to be that, within this context, a new form of politics is emerging which can no longer be subsumed under old statist frameworks. What I will call the ‘politics of identity’ is generally equated with transnational social movements such as women’s movements, ecological movements, ethnic and religious movements and gay/lesbian movements (significantly, ‘the anti-globalisation movement’ is not usually interpreted as an exemplar of this kind of politics). Identitybased movements are seen not only as generating new, non-territorial political identities, but also as representing a distinct type of politics which revolves around cultural and lifestyle issues rather than the class and material interests understood to be at the root of older, workers’ movements and more recent ‘anti-globalisation’ activism.
