Identity Politics: Left and Right

According to a common narrative, identity politics derives from leftist postmodernism, and is antithetical to both liberalism and Enlightenment universalism. This narrative, however, is false. Identity politics is propagated not only by the left but also by the right-and it is not tied to postmodernism. Various forms of identity politics are, in fact, quite compatible with liberalism and Enlightenment values.

Based on a liberal egalitarian framework, Nils Holtug argues that some forms of id...