Identity And International Relations

The thesis aims to interpret international politics in order to explore possibilities and rules to construct new forms of identity. The hypotheses are as follows: I. The traditional form of collective identity in IR is nation-state, which is still one main form in the post-Cold War era. However, it is not the sole form any more. II. The world politics in the global era requires new forms of identity construction, namely multiple identities within one single subject. The philosophical idea of multi-identities is multi-culturalism, which may promote understanding-at least dialogues between different cultures- and cooperation among peoples.The methodologies include cultural studies mainly and theory of structuration as well. Feminist perspectives are employed to provide a comparative analysis on nationalism. The thesis tries to marry positivist approach to analyse and explain and cultural approaches to understand and interpret. Where they may not be compatible, the thesis adopts an intersubjective position which facilitate mutual effective.There are nine chapters in this thesis, three of which are for reflections on the traditional national identity- construction. The reflections emphasize that political elites play important roles in nation building, and nationalism is a key factor. Another three chapters are to contribute to the discussion of identity-formation in which the relations between agent and structure are analysed in detail. A seventh chapter is devoted to examine the ways to forge a common 'European identity', which hopes to provide models of collective identity construction. The first chapter discusses epistemology and methodology problems of the traditional collective identity building. And the last chapter reviews and concludes the discussions in an open manner as the thesis takes a position that identity is more a process than something pregiven or determined.