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Agents, Structure and Practice in the Formation of National Identity:
A Study Based on China's Participating in International System
ZHAO Yang
2013, 47 (8):
76-85.
DOI:
Since the structural realism presented by Kenneth Waltz came into existence in the late 1970s, the structure has been the main focus point of the subject. For Waltz, the structure is a material one, which occupies the behavior of agents (states). In Waltzs project, the actors have no choice but to follow the structures order. For the Structural constructivism, there is not only a material structure, but an ideational one, which shapes the identities and interests of the states. A state is an actor as well as an agent for constructivism, which means that it has the capacity to determine its behavior on the basis of the reflection on its identities and interests. This thesis focuses on the meaning of agentstructure contestation for the study of national identity, which is whether the main drive of identity formation is structural, agential or the combination of both. The thesis proposes that the effect of structure on identity formation could be grasped only when the international structure is considered as ideationally constructed. Identity formation is influenced by structural as well as agential factors, and an identity is forged by both of them. It is incomplete to only concentrate on either of them, so both structural and agential factors should be taken into account.
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