Identity formation and the political marketplace

Abstract

This article is an introduction to a special issue that focusses on the relationship between the political marketplace, identity politics and organised violence. The political marketplace refers to an extreme form of neo-liberalism in which political relations are monetised. The introduction makes the argument that political marketplaces are associated with fragmented exclusive transnational identities that are constructed through contemporary violence, and with what we call disassembled states, often mediated by the international community. It is a contradictory and turbulent form of association. The articles in the collection provide evidence for various aspects of the argument.