Law and Identity: An International Comparative Approach

The book explores how law conceptualises the collective dimensions of identity as an autonomous technological and instrumental system. Rather than simply describing the categories of race, ethnicity and nationality, it traces their dynamic and often contradictory construction across multiple jurisdictions on several continents. Pap emphasises that, although identity politics discourses have become dominant in recent decades, legal operationalisation practices are much more layered. They are not always based on the principle of self-determination, especially in the current era of artificial intelligence and biogenetic research, which has given new momentum to the 're-biologisation' of categorisation.

The book is divided into three thematic sections. The first part discusses the conceptual and legal theoretical foundations. It analyses the legal operationalisation of ethnic or racial affiliation, the basic concepts used to capture collective identity in law, and how this becomes an institutionalised, binding category. Particular attention is given to cases where the choice of identity is not spontaneous or voluntary, but the result of external regulations, registration requirements, or incentive mechanisms.

The second part analyses the internal contradictions and paradoxes of ethno-racial categorisation. It discusses the linguistic and teleological shortcomings of legal concepts and definitions, as well as the challenges associated with a self-identification-based approach. Although subjective identification is often recognised as a legal basis, it raises several problems in terms of verification, authenticity and potential abuse. The author discusses the legal and sociological consequences of 'passing', fraud, assimilation, and 'covering' (the partial concealment of a marginalised identity) in detail. A key element of the chapter is the mapping of tendencies towards 're-biologisation', where the author provides examples of the redefinition of ethnic and racial categories within citizenship, asylum, anti-discrimination, and indigenous legal regimes.

The third part consists of case studies that empirically examine the conceptual frameworks. It analyses the dilemmas surrounding the legal recognition, treatment and categorisation of Jewish, Roma, indigenous, Dalit and albino communities. The study deliberately avoids ethnocentric or Eurocentric logic, with cases drawn from Africa, Asia, America and Europe. The selected cases not only shed light on the status of the communities concerned, but also on the factors shaping legal conceptualisation, such as political interests, historical conditioning, administrative practices, and the current technological environment.

A key objective of the book is to demonstrate how legal constructs can restrict the freedom to choose one's identity, and to explore the resulting normative dilemmas when the state or other entities determine who belongs to a particular group. The book focuses on the role of merit, social recognition and historical factors in creating categories, as well as the issue of conceptual arbitrariness and systemic contradictions.

The book's methodology is based on comparative law, but the author does not limit himself to formal legal regulations. It interprets the political and social context of ethnicity within the international and constitutional legal framework and offers an interdisciplinary perspective that will be useful for lawyers, as well as representatives of political science, sociology, anthropology and history. At the same time, the author contributes to the reinterpretation of identity categories in contemporary social science without promoting the exclusivity of one single model.

Pap András László's new book provides both theoretical reflection and empirical grounding, as well as normative demands and critical analysis. The publication of this book is expected to make a significant contribution to international discourse on minority rights, identity politics, and state-driven categorization. According to the publisher, the online version of the book will be available to readers in September this year, with the print edition expected in 2026.

Abstract

This book provides a complex insight into how law, as a distinct tool and technology, conceptualizes and operationalizes race, ethnicity and nationality. The focus of the comparative project, by bringing examples from five continents and scores of jurisdictions, as well as showcases for hybrid, intersectional groups, is specifically the morphology and dynamics of legal categorization. Separate discussions concentrate on conceptualizing groupness and membership, as well as agency and contestation. The book shows that although identity politics has dominated the past decades, ethno-racial self-identification is not the only operationalizing model legal regimes apply, especially with the recent boost in artificial intelligence, and bio-genetic research. Examples for the “re-biologization” of ethno-racial conceptualization are brought from a wide range of legal regimes, including citizenship, anti-discrimination, asylum and indigenous law. The work provides a journey through the administrative-political construction and contestation of ethno-racial classifications, with particular attention paid to the concept of free choice of identity, covering, and fraud, as well as the arbitrariness, historical path dependence and the role of merit in conceptualization. While the starting point of the book is to capture ethnicity as a category of law, it shows how legal conceptualization and operationalization is intertwined with categories of analysis and experience. The methodology applied is comparative constitutional and international law, but the research will have wider interdisciplinary appeal offering a novel perspective for a broad audience in social sciences and humanities.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword.
Introduction: How to Read this Book - and Why
PART I: CONCEPTUAL OVERVIEW AND INTRODUCTION
1. Conceptualization and operationalization: conceptual and legal overview
2. Contesting: passing, fraud, and assimilation 
PART II: PARADOXES IN CONCEPTUALIZATION AND OPERATIONALIZATION 
3. Linguistic and teleological deficiencies and ambiguities in defining
4. The arbitrariness of conceptualization
5. The challenges and perils of subjectivism in operationalization
6. Objective operationalization schemes: The rebiologization of race
7. The menace of ethnoracial data-phobia 
Part III: CASE STUDIES 
8. National Minorities
9. The Jewry
10. The Roma
11. The Indigenous
12. The Dalit and the case of caste
13. The Albino. 
Closing and Concluding Remarks. 
Bibliography