More than Bread and Butter: Identity Contestation in Hong Kong and Kazakhstan

• In Event: Poster Session: Politics of Communist and Former Communist Countries & Critical Political Science
  In Poster Session: Poster Session: Politics of Communist and Former Communist Countries

Abstract

This study examines why peripheral regions exhibit different reactions toward their national identity. Through cross-regional comparison between post-1997 Hong Kong and Kazakhstan during the Soviet era, the research builds on previous literature on peripheral nationalism, especially Horowitz’s advanced-backward group typology and explains the identity contestation in these regions and the rationale behind the selection of enemies of certain ethnic groups. Disagreeing with Horowitz’s argument, the research uncovers why socio-economically advanced groups, who have little incentives to pursue secession given the huge potential economic loss of confrontation, often respond to state integration in a costly and economically irrational manner. Borrowing the theoretical framework from integrated threats theory and Wimmer’s boundary-based model of ethnic encountering, the study holds that identity maintenance enjoys higher priorities than economic calculations in group interactions and proposes three corresponding scenarios.

Author

• Si Yang Liu, The University of Hong Kong