scholarly journals Securing Unity and Reverence: Chinese ontological security across its maritime and frontier disputes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Henry Curtis
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
International Relations ◽  
National Minority ◽  
Territorial Disputes ◽  
Minority Populations ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Ontological Security ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Maritime Disputes ◽  
Realist Perspective

<p>This thesis draws on the Constructivist school of International Relations, applying the theory of ontological security to explain diverging patterns of behaviour by China across its maritime and frontier territorial disputes. Since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, these patterns have seen China consistently interact with states adjacent to its frontiers to settle disputes peacefully, with occasional instances of conflict. Conversely, in its maritime disputes, though varying in its levels of aggression and cooperation, China has resolutely refused to settle with disputant states. In examining these varying behaviours, it is argued that differences derive from the differing ability of China to secure its national identity between the two types of dispute. Analysing the examples of the Sino-Indian dispute and border war, the Burmese border agreement, and the ongoing South China Sea disputes, periods of conflict and settlement in these disputes are compared to changing manifestations of Chinese national identity. What results is an illustration of frontier border settlement contributing to the security of China’s identity as a unified, pluralistic nation state. The absence of national minority populations in relation to maritime disputes alternatively sees continued interaction in these disputes as securing China’s identity as the superior ‘Central Kingdom’ relative to peripheral South East Asian states, while offering little incentive for settlement. Both types of dispute can be viewed as contributing to the biographical narrative of China’s ‘Century of Humiliation’. This thesis presents a significant departure from existing studies of China’s disputes, predominantly undertaken from a Realist perspective. Additionally, it expands on existing Constructivist literature by demonstrating how national identity can result in a range of behaviours across a range of differing disputes, further validating the emerging ontological security approach within International Relations scholarship.</p>

scholarly journals Securing Unity and Reverence: Chinese ontological security across its maritime and frontier disputes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Henry Curtis
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
International Relations ◽  
National Minority ◽  
Territorial Disputes ◽  
Minority Populations ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Ontological Security ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Maritime Disputes ◽  
Realist Perspective

<p>This thesis draws on the Constructivist school of International Relations, applying the theory of ontological security to explain diverging patterns of behaviour by China across its maritime and frontier territorial disputes. Since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, these patterns have seen China consistently interact with states adjacent to its frontiers to settle disputes peacefully, with occasional instances of conflict. Conversely, in its maritime disputes, though varying in its levels of aggression and cooperation, China has resolutely refused to settle with disputant states. In examining these varying behaviours, it is argued that differences derive from the differing ability of China to secure its national identity between the two types of dispute. Analysing the examples of the Sino-Indian dispute and border war, the Burmese border agreement, and the ongoing South China Sea disputes, periods of conflict and settlement in these disputes are compared to changing manifestations of Chinese national identity. What results is an illustration of frontier border settlement contributing to the security of China’s identity as a unified, pluralistic nation state. The absence of national minority populations in relation to maritime disputes alternatively sees continued interaction in these disputes as securing China’s identity as the superior ‘Central Kingdom’ relative to peripheral South East Asian states, while offering little incentive for settlement. Both types of dispute can be viewed as contributing to the biographical narrative of China’s ‘Century of Humiliation’. This thesis presents a significant departure from existing studies of China’s disputes, predominantly undertaken from a Realist perspective. Additionally, it expands on existing Constructivist literature by demonstrating how national identity can result in a range of behaviours across a range of differing disputes, further validating the emerging ontological security approach within International Relations scholarship.</p>

Conclusion

2020 ◽  
pp. 156-174
Author(s):  
Alexander Bukh
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Territorial Disputes ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Difference

This chapter summarizes the findings of this book. It draws a number of conclusions regarding the factors that spur the emergence of territorial disputes—related national identity entrepreneurship, and analyzes the factors that account for the difference in the social reception of the narratives in the respective societies. It also outlines the implications of these case studies for our understanding of the social construction of a disputed territory and for the broader constructivist International Relations literature on national identity.

South Korea’s and Taiwan’s Territorial Disputes with Japan, 1990s to 2018

Asian Survey ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 583-606
Author(s):  
Christina Lai
Keyword(s):  
South Korea ◽  
Comparative Study ◽  
State Building ◽  
Territorial Disputes ◽  
Maritime Disputes ◽  
Constructivist Perspective ◽  
Senkaku Islands ◽  
Taiwanese Government

South Korea and Taiwan are former Japanese colonies that have undergone similar processes of state-building since WWII. But they have chosen different rhetorical frameworks in their maritime disputes with Japan. In South Korea, negotiating with Japan can be viewed as threatening the country’s independence and pride, whereas in the Taiwanese government, cooperation with Japan is considered mutually beneficial. Why have these two countries taken such divergent stances toward Japan? This article examines the territorial disputes between South Korea and Japan over Dokdo, and between Taiwan and Japan over the Senkaku Islands. It sets forth a rhetorical framework of comparison, and it proposes a constructivist perspective in understanding South Korea’s and Taiwan’s legitimation strategies toward Japan from the late 1990s to 2018. This comparative study suggests that the differences between their legitimation strategies can be traced to their different colonial experiences with Japan.

Counter-hegemony in today's Belarus: dissident symbols and the mythological figure of Miron Vitebskii

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 713-730
Author(s):  
Anastasiya Astapova
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Mass Media ◽  
Political Development ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Civil State ◽  
Multiple Functions

Tackling the role of state symbols in negotiating national identity and political development, this research focuses on Belarus where the alternative white-red-white flag became instrumental in protests against the dominant political discourse. Since 1995, oppositional mass media have been reporting about cases of this tricolor being erected in hard-to-reach and/or politically sensitive places. These actions were mainly attributed to some “Miron,” whose identity remained concealed and served as a simulacrum of a national superhero in non-conformist discourse. The image of Miron immediately acquired multiple functions: condemning the Soviet colonial past, struggling for the European future, and creating a nation-state rather than the Russian-speaking civil-state of Belarus. Yet, first and foremost, Miron became a means for contesting the authority of the president who has been in power since 1994. Concentrating on the methods employed for the construction of the counter-hegemonic fakelore project of Miron and its aims, this article explores the vernacular response to its creation.

scholarly journals Information Policy and Information Security of PRC: Development, Approaches and Implementation

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 382-394
Author(s):  
Tatyana Ivanovna Ponka ◽  
Mirzet Safetovich Ramich ◽  
Yuyao Wu
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Information Security ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Information Policy ◽  
Security System ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Republic Of China

The subject of the study is the new course of the PRC information policy, which was launched by the Fifth generation of the PRC leaders after the 18th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in 2012. As a result, after the 18th Congress of the CPC was started the implementation of the Strong cyberpower strategy, which implies not only ensuring cyber security in the country, but also the usage of network resources to develop the national economy. Chinas new information policy was caused by the sharply increased role of information and communication technologies in international processes and the shift in the focus of international relations to the Asia-Pacific region. The PRCs information policy is based on the most advanced technologies in the IT sphere and the cooperation with private companies on regulating external and internal information security. The relevance of the research topic is due to the increasing role of ICT in international processes. In this context, the most important are the positions of the leading countries of the world to regulate this area, as well as the mechanisms and tools used by them. The Peoples Republic of China is one of the leaders in the field of scientific and technical developments and actively uses its achievements to accomplish tasks in the field of domestic and foreign policy. In this regard, the purpose of the study is to analyze and compare the development strategies of the PRC information policy and the resources that are necessary for their implementation. The unique network landscape, which was formed under the influence of government policy on control over published content and the sharing of digital services market among the three largest information corporations (Baidu, Tencent and Alibaba), has become an essential part of the countrys information security system and requires detailed study. The purpose of the article is to identify the evolution of Chinas information policy development strategy and resources for its implementation. This article also discusses the threats to the information security of the Peoples Republic of China and analyzes the approaches to ensuring it. The results of the study are the conclusions that show the role and place of information policy in the PRC foreign policy, the structure of the information security system and strategic approaches to the regulation of international relations in cyberspace.

Nationalism: evolution of ideology

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (03) ◽  
pp. 117-129
Author(s):  
Elena Karsanova ◽  
Nikolai Omelchenko
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Historical Evolution ◽  
Political Practice ◽  
Natural Reaction ◽  
National Institutions

The article is devoted to the historical evolution of theoretical representations about nationalism and its political practice in different countries, first of all in the European states. The authors come to the conclusion that in the conditions of growing social-economic and political international relations and getting more authority by sovereign states and national institutions nationalism is growing too. This process is a natural reaction to the threat to loose their national identity and the rise of nationalism continues to be a discussion point of modern nationalists project and movements.

Nations, Nationalism, National Identity: New Dimensions in Academic Discourse

2015 ◽  
Vol 59 (11) ◽  
pp. 91-102
Author(s):  
I. Semenenko
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Nation Building ◽  
Academic Discourse ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Russian Science ◽  
Interethnic Relations ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
Nation States

Analyzing discourses on interethnic relations can contribute to a clearer understanding of the focal points of tensions in contemporary political communities sharing a common territory and common political institutions. These discourses represent the complex of problems related to nation-building and are generated both in the public sphere and in academic discussion. As such, they often develop separately one from the other. Assessing the current academic discourse on nations and nationalism, on nation-building and the nation-state, on citizenship, cultural diversity and interethnic conflict can contribute to the formation of the agenda of a politics of identity aimed at building a civic nation. Memory politics deserve special attention in this context, as the interpretation of historic memory has today become a powerful instrument that political elites can use to consolidate the nation and, in different contexts, to politicize ethnicity and deepen cleavages in existing nation-states. The affirmation of a positive civic (national) identity is a reference framework for modern democratic societies, and it is in meeting the challenges of politicizing ethnicity that political priorities and academic interests meet. However, the current domination of politics over academia in this conflict prone sphere contributes to its radicalization and to the formation of negative and exclusive identities that can be manipulated to pursue elitist group interests. Evaluating models of political organization alternative to the ones known today (such as “the nation-state”) does not aspire to “write off” the nation, but this can help to come up with visions and ideas politics can take up to overcome the conflict potential that contemporary societies generate over ethnic issues. Acknowledgements. This article was prepared with financial support provided by the Russian Science Foundation [research grant № 15-18-00021, “Regulating interethnic relations and managing ethnic and social conflicts in the contemporary world: the resource potential of civic identity (a comparative political analysis)”]. The research was conducted at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO), RAS.

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