Includes bibliographical references and index.

"In this foundational work in contemporary political theory, William Connolly makes a distinctive contribution to our understanding of the relationship between personal identity and democratic politics, particularly in the domains of religion, ethics, sexuality, and ethnicity. Every identity, Connolly argues, whether individual or social, presents us with a fundamental and troubling paradox: an identity establishes itself in relation to a set of differences, and it operates under powerful pressures to fix, regulate, or exclude some of these differences as otherness. The dignity of a people or political regime, and the quality of democratic culture, depends on the acknowledgment and ethos cultivated in response to these pressures." "In a substantial new essay, Connolly responds to the heated controversy surrounding his ideas when Identity\Difference was first published in 1991, while augmenting his discussion of the virtues of critical responsiveness. The issues of identity and difference cannot be ignored, he contends, and are ubiquitous in modern life."--Jacket.

Confessing Identity\Belonging to Difference -- Identity\Difference: Democratic Negotiations of Political Paradox -- Introduction: The Problem of Evil -- 1. Freedom and Resentment -- 2. Global Political Discourse -- 3. Liberalism and Difference -- 4. Responsibility for Evil -- 5. A Letter to Augustine -- 6. Democracy and Distance -- 7. The Politics of Territorial Democracy.

In this foundational work in contemporary political theory, William Connolly makes a distinctive contribution to our understanding of the relationship between personal identity and democratic politics, particularly in the domains of religion, ethics, sexuality, and ethnicity.

Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on January 21, 2020).

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