ABSTRACT
As Westphalian-based identity perceptions are challenged by processes of globalization, regional integration and disintegration, which have dissolved or re-drawn national borders, people's identity concepts have become uncertain, often generating fear. Identities, and similar concepts under different rubrics, have been defined, dissected and discussed by authors from nearly every social scientific discipline. The main debate about the nature of identities can be portrayed as running parallel to the nature versus nurture debate, and the autonomy' debate prevalent in philosophy and political science. Marxists and other historical materialists represent one end of this spectrum, where a strong and rather deterministic social structure shapes individual identity. This power of borders and boundaries to generate identity and agency can also be said of other categories that people use to partition the world. It has often been argued that national identities have been used to mobilize conflicts across national borders.
