The Chicago Council on Global Affairs is an independent, nonpartisan membership organization committed to bringing clarity and offering solutions to issues that transcend borders and transform how people, business, and governments engage the world. The council on the Monday 10th held a talk on democracy crisis of identity that has so overtaken world headlines. From the event description:



Identity has become a defining—and divisive—political concept around the world. In recent years appeals to group identity have underpinned the election of Donald Trump, the success of the Brexit “leave” campaign, the rise of politicized Islam and anti-immigrant nationalism, and the emergence of powerful social movements like #metoo. But as demands for recognition based on nationality, ethnicity, religion, and gender have risen in prominence, these narrower identities are conflicting with the universal values of liberal democracy, argues Francis Fukuyama. What is driving the focus on identity in politics today? And can identity be molded in a way that supports rather than undermines democracy?

The presenter was accompanied in the discussion by speaker Francis Fukuyama who has a new book titled, “Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment“. Fukuyama is the Oliver Nomellini Senior Fellow at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and the Mosbacher Director of FSI’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. He first gained widespread notoriety for his landmark 1992 book “The End of History and the Last Man“.

The video of the discussion lasts for about an hour and a half. Take a look: