Identity Politics

A paradoxical approach to forming coalitions in a political party or movement. The basic idea is that many people belong to or identify with a particular minority group that has suffered injustice or even oppression in the past, and that all such people can benefit by combining into a powerful political coalition.

The difficulty naturally arises, however, that people who see themselves as victims tend to regard other people with jealousy. As long as everyone can agree on who the oppressors are, such jealousies can be focused on people outside of the coalition.

Another recent complication, however, makes this approach a tad unstable. That complication is called Intersectionality. As it is, intersectionality can apply not only to people who belong to more than one minority group but who also belong to a group that oppressed others in the past or who have suffered from economic or social competition with members of other minority groups in the past.