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Bouvard on Sovereignty Superseding Identity Politics

Dennis Bouvard · X / Twitter · Sep 14, 2026 · 1 min read

Sovereignty will always supersede "identity" ("identity" is ultimately a memory or fantasy of sovereignty) and if one identity is imposed upon sovereignty sovereign institutions will still have to determine relations both to other identities and all the sub-identities that emerge

So, if you're talking identity outside of a sovereign framework you're just trying to herd people into a form of sovereignty you probably don't understand yourself, unless you're being highly manipulative.

@truepeers Yes--but the privileging of identity over sovereignty goes beyond democracy.

@truepeers That exercise of sovereignty might generate resentment over lost privileges over a previous form.

@truepeers I suppose it wins out when there are lapses in sovereignty but the more important observation is that the way to restore sovereignty will not be assertions of identity.

@truepeers Even if you break up an empire on identitarian grounds the problem of sovereignty just presents itself to you in a new way and you won't be able to pull the solution to that problem out of the entrails of your identity.

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