Defending identity: its indispensable role in protecting democracy

Who is better prepared to confront challenges and defend principles in a volatile modern world? Those with strong national, religious, ethnic, or tribal identities who accept democracy, or democrats who renounce identity as a kind of divisive prejudice? Natan Sharansky, building on his personal experience as a dissident, argues that valueless cosmopolitanism, even in democracies, is dangerous. Better to have hostile identities framed by democracy than democrats indifferent to identity. In a vigorous insightful challenge to the left and right alike, Natan Sharansky, as he has proved repeatedly.;Preface ix; 1 Democracy and Identity 1; 2 Discovering Identity 17; 3 The Assault on Identity 43; 4 Post-Identity and the Collapse of Human Rights 80; 5 Identity in the Public Space 102; 6 Altneuland: At the Crossroads ofIdentity and Democracy 142; 7 Defending the Nation-State 168; 8 Peace or War 201; Conclusion: Building a New Alliance 221; Notes 233; Additional Background Readings 247; Acknowledgments 255; Index 257.