No Simple Answers to Identity Questions
National identity and democracy have a far from straightforward relationship. This is the core message in this timely compilation of original analysis edited by Princeton scholar Gilbert Rozman. National identity has featured heavily in international relations scholarship but less prominent among comparative political scientists working on democratization. In part, this reflects, as Aurel Croissant notes in his essay here, a lack of consensus among analysts of identity. “Modernists” focus on the symbolic, linguistic and commemorative aspects of national identity; “perennialists” give prominence to ethnic identities; “constructivists” note that national identities are mutable, emotionally conditioned and often artificial.
Drawing together European, US and Asian writers, this volume explores the shortcomings of democratization since the Cold War and how the limitations of modernization theory, overly optimistic ideological narratives of democratic triumph post-1989, and the growth of interest in culturally exclusive themes of Confucian exceptionalism have placed democracy on the defensive and sometimes contributed to “democratic backsliding.” Helpfully split into three sections — conceptual frameworks, the evolution and limitations of democratic governance in East Asia, and the experience of the region’s relatively new democracies — the book integrates identity and democracy with foreign-policy analysis. It ends with four chapters exploring obstacles to democratic consolidation in Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Mongolia, reminding us that political change can be both reactionary as well as progressive.