The Driving Force Of Diplomatic Performance And Identity Evolution: A Comparative Study Of The Normalization Of Relations Between The Ford Government And The Carter Government

With changing situations,the inter-state reconciliation between former enemies has become integral to the post-WWII international order/peace re-building.The process,however,is often beset with twists and turns,presenting many tricky problems and interesting areas for academic research within IR agendas.The dissertation asks,in the context of the common threat and huge benefits from possible relations improvement and reconciliation,why the national identity of a state does not evolve toward the normalized collective at one time,while it moves fast toward reconciliation and transforms its stance from non-reconciliation to normalization at other times? The dissertation uses the relations normalization between the United States and the People's Republic of China from 1973 to 1978 as the empirical case to discuss the research question.A review of the related literature finds that,on the one hand,the current theoretical discussions center on the role of factors like power,emotions and identity in facilitating or obstructing relations reconciliation without studying the reconciliation itself or treating it as a process in research,while the current identity explanation,though beneficial,only stops at pointing out that the key to inter-state reconciliation lies in the change of social identity relations without explaining the driving forces behind the relational evolution of collective identity;on the other hand,most of the research on U.S.-P.R.C.relations normalization is empirical,treating the change of Sino-American relations as directly resulted from the change of factors like international system,domestic politics or individual decision-making,without theoretically approaching the Sino-American relations normalization as a self-sufficient process.Therefore,the reviewed research discussions are not able to answer the research question of this dissertation sufficiently.Thus,the author proposes the theoretical framework of performance of diplomacy and identity evolution in inter-state reconciliation process,designs corresponding research hypothesis and validates the theoretical framework by conducting a comparative case study of Ford and Carter administrations' performance of diplomacy towards normalizing relations with the People's Republic of China.Essentially,a country's recognition and identification of the other's identity and rational appeal affects the inter-state normalization process.Theoretically,the dissertation conceptualizes inter-state relations normalization as performance of diplomacy,where a state performer represented by key state leaders at a certain stage conducts diplomatic performances towards the to-be-reconciled audience of the other state,which includes symbolic-based and practice-based performative actions.In the performing process of diplomacy,one's performance can affect its own recognition of the other,as well as can drive its own identity to change toward the normalized collective identity.To further analyze the theoretical concept,based on current research on national identity and performance studies,the dissertation divides the diplomatic performance into three organic components: stage,audience and performer.After defining each component,the dissertation proposes three research hypotheses under the main hypothesis.In term of stage,when international situations match with domestic politics,it will be more conducive for the performer to recognize the other,thus inducing more driving force for its own identity to evolve toward the normalized collective,presenting more practice-based aspect of performance.In terms of the audience,when the expectation and reaction of the other correspond with the intention of the performer,it will be more conducive for the performer to change its recognition of the other,thus inducing more driving force for its own identity to evolve toward the normalized collective,presenting more practice-based aspect of performance.In terms of the performer,when the words and actions of the national leaders achieve inner coherence,it will be more conducive for the performer to change its recognition of the other,thus inducing more driving force for its own identity to evolve toward the normalized collective,presenting more practice-based aspect of performance.The dissertation illustrates the theoretical conceptualization using the relations normalization approaches of Ford and Carter administrations after briefly analyzing the heritage left over by Nixon's government.During both Ford and Carter administrations,the United States was faced with grave Soviet threat and was keenly aware of the benefits from normalizing relations with China,and China's expectations as well,but the two administrations approached the normalization issue differently,leading to contrast normalizing processes and results.To explain this empirical puzzle,the author illustrates Ford's and Carter's diplomatic performances towards China respectively in light of the stage,audience and performer,centering on how the three components in the performance of diplomacy have affected their recognition of China's sovereign identity and negotiate their own national identity towards the normalized collective.The research hypothesis of the dissertation is validated causally after careful discussion.Besides inter-state reconciliation,the dissertation hopes that the concept and theoretical discussion of diplomatic performance can provide useful thinking on China's diplomatic practice,international communication and soft power building in the new era.