The Content of National Mythology: Past Victory and Foreign Policy Preferences

• In Event: Other Forms of Power: Soft Power, Mythology, and Rhetoric in Foreign Policy

Abstract

National victimhood has been cited as a source of strong nationalist sentiment. Indeed, it is easy to observe states employing nationalist narratives involving varying degrees of collective victimization. Yet, in the repertoire of nationalist rhetoric, states emphasize not only past victimization and grievances but also past glory and accomplishments. While previous studies on nationalism and foreign policy mostly pay attention to victimhood only, such as “the century of national humiliation”—China’s historical memories of subjugation at the hands of Western powers and Japan during the 19th and early 20th centuries, this paper examines how invoking past victory shapes the public's foreign policy attitudes, focusing on the emotional impact of these invocations on collective self-esteem. By investigating the construction of national glory and its interaction with the negative impacts of victimization, this paper sheds new light on how states can overcome past victimhood and mitigate its harmful effect on contemporary foreign policy making. The findings from survey experiments conducted in the U.S, China, and South Korea also contribute to the growing literature on rhetoric and historical memory in international affairs.

Authors

• Jiyoung Ko, Korea University

• Joslyn N. Barnhart, University of California Santa Barbara