The psychology and politics of collective identity and mass action -  Steve Reicher, St Andrews University All empires are destroyed by over-reaching themselves. This is equally true within the academic world. The concept of identity is becoming ubiquitous. To read more click on the link in red at the bottom of this section...  

Negotiating Identities: conflicting models in the Arab world - Charles Harb, American University of Beirut, Lebanon In an informal social event, a US embassy official was overheard lamenting the high support among many of Lebanon’s “intellectual elites” for the “terrorist group” Hezbollah. A recent Zogby International poll (released February 8^th, 2007), in six Arab countries indicated unambiguously that the most popular Arab leader in all six countries and by a large margin, is Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah. To read more click on the link in red at the bottom of this section… 

Questioning ‘Muslim Identity’ in London -  Keynote Kathryn Spellman, Syracuse University/London Middle East Institute at SOAS Last year I brought a class of undergraduate sociology students to a mosque in London as part of a course I teach entitled, ‘Religion and Identity’. After taking off our shoes and donning scarves out of respect, the female students and I were hosted upstairs by a woman, wearing a Niqab, to the small section of the mosque reserved for women. To read more click on the link in red at the bottom of this section... 

Negotiating Identity and Injustice: A Case Study of Hindu Nationalism in India -  Ronald Fischer and Sammyh Khan, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand: In the current global socio-political climate, military force is the modus operandi for the resolution of intergroup conflicts.  This has resulted in a scarcity of attempts to gain a deeper understanding of the political, economic, social and psychological roots of such conflicts (e.g., Chomsky, 2007). We argue that issues of negotiating identity are central in group conflict at the intra-state level and are particularly relevant given the explosion of such conflicts throughout the world following the dissolution of the cold-war order.  To read more click on the link in red at the bottom of this section… 

Negotiating identities as a Jew: On who I am and what I am not - Keynote Brian Klug, Oxford University Who am I? Someone who knows me would probably answer this question by listing several different identities. To Read More click on the link in red at the bottom… 

Papuan-ness, victim, and politics in Papua, Indonesia - Muridan Widjojo, Institute of Sciences, Jakarta Indonesia This essay points out the formation of Papuan identities as a product of a history of resistance, military oppression, and politico-economical marginalization under Indonesian centralized government and recent Special Autonomy for the region. The ways in which the Papuans fashion their self-image relate to the way Papuans develop strategies to achieve their goals. To read more click on the link in red at the bottom of this section…. 

The Identity Threat From Newspapers Priming Asylum-seeker  Stereotypes On Multi-Cultural Britain - Catherine Lido, Thames Valley University Research regarding stereotyping and prejudice in Psychology tends to focus its attention on the observation that seemingly ‘normal’ people may engage in these processes under surprisingly minimal facilitating conditions; such as simply being categorised into two competing team groups, or simply having a stereotype brought to mind.  To read more click on the link in red at the bottom of this section… 

The contribution of leadership to a shared sense of identity and purpose - David Beech, The Leadership Organization Leadership is a rich, multi-faceted concept and a personal journey of discovery. Individuals, work groups and their organisations place a premium on developing the leadership capabilities and conditions that will deliver survival, well being and advantage in a ferociously complex, competitive, constantly changing and globalising economy and society. To read more click on the link in red below…   

Identity, cohesion and public policy – Rick Muir IPPR, LondonI do not propose here to make comments on all of the papers that have been submitted, but rather reflect on how some of the points made relate to my own work on public policy, and in particular contemporary debates around ‘Britishness’ and community cohesion. 

The first thing to say is that these papers demonstrate the importance of identity as a driver of both human well-being and human suffering.  Charles Harb’s paper contains a useful table setting out how a firm sense of personal or collective identity helps to meet some of our basic psychological needs.  Identity provides us with self-esteem, a basic sense of personal continuity, a framework of meaning through which we can understand the world around us, a way of distinguishing ourselves from others and a sense of solidarity with wider social groups.  On this last point, Stephen Reicher goes as far as to say that ‘shared social identity is the precondition for social solidarity in all the richly nuanced and diverse meanings of that term’.  But of course while identity can provide group solidarity through connections of similarity, it can also lead to conflict through the demonisation of difference.  Ronald Fischer’s and Sammyh Khan’s piece sets out the hugely dangerous potential of exclusionary identities, especially when mobilised by national and religious leaders in conditions of stark social and economic inequality. To read more click on the 'read more' link at the bottom of this section ...  

Negotiating Identities  - Hamish MacPherson and Claire Cooper, Commission for Racial Equality In the introduction to his paper on collective identity, Stephen Reicher writes that “the concept of identity is becoming ubiquitous….The obvious danger is that, by seeking to explain everything, it ends up by explaining nothing.” 

It was with a similar sentiment in mind that the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) hosted a seminar in March this year to consider what current research on identity had to contribute – if anything - to our thinking about an integrated society and more precisely to policies that contribute to it. To read more click on the 'read more' link at the bottom of this section ...

Giles Moss, Oxford University It is not possible to summarise all the contributions to this e-conference. Besides, it is unnecessary when readers are ‘mouse clicks’ away from the originals. What I want to do, instead, is pick up on a few themes that are raised in a number of the conference papers. In these very brief remarks, I would like to approach the theme of this conference on identity and conflict through the politics of identity and the negotiation of collective identity in a democratic polity more specifically. To read more click on the 'read more' link at the bottom of this section ...