Cultural and religious identities shape global politics by influencing political loyalties, legitimizing authority, defining group interests and mobilizing collective action. However, identity does not automatically cause cooperation or conflict; political actors construct and use identities within particular contexts.
In the HL extension, identity is one of eight global political challenge topic areas. It connects directly to the key concepts of power, sovereignty, legitimacy and interdependence.
| Mechanism | Political effect | Contemporary example |
|---|---|---|
| Defining political communities | Shared language, history or religion can determine who is regarded as belonging to the nation. | Myanmar's 1982 citizenship framework excluded most Rohingya Muslims. Military operations in 2017 forced more than 700,000 Rohingya into Bangladesh, internationalizing an identity-based political crisis. |
| Legitimizing authority | Governments may associate themselves with a dominant cultural or religious identity to strengthen support. | India's Bharatiya Janata Party has promoted Hindu nationalist ideas. The 2019 Citizenship Amendment Act offered accelerated citizenship to specified non-Muslim migrants, producing protests and criticism that citizenship was being defined through religion. |
| Mobilizing resistance | National or cultural identity can generate solidarity against external control. | Following Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukrainian national identity helped sustain resistance and demands for military and diplomatic support from other states. |
| Creating transnational connections | Religious and cultural communities can organize across state borders, increasing interdependence. | Rohingya diaspora groups and international Muslim organizations have campaigned for humanitarian assistance and accountability beyond Myanmar's borders. |
A constructivist perspective explains that political identities are produced through language, institutions and interaction rather than being permanently fixed. Its limitation is that identity alone cannot explain outcomes: military capacity, economic interests and state institutions also influence political behaviour.