Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.8, 2013

 

The Political Logic of the Construction of Modern National Identity

(Abstract)

 

Lin Shangli

 

In the modern society in which man has become the dominant force, national identity is not a simple issue of national idea or awareness, but one of state building. In the context of globalization, modernization and democratization, the construction of national identity centering on modern state building is premised on democracy, impinges on the all-round optimization of the state system and the state structural systems determined by it, and is determined by the self-dependent choice of the identity entity. In the organic interactions between the state and man, and between the system and man, the quality of state structural systems determines its capacity of shaping the national identity of the masses, whereas the formation process of national identity also shapes the state structural systems. Therefore, in trying to promote national identity, state building must look inward at the problems and challenges confronting it from time to time from the viewpoint of national identity, so as to integrate organically the improvement of state system, the optimization of state structural systems and national identity. As such, the strategic agenda of constructing contemporary China’s national identity should interpret academically the historical logic of the emergence and development of China as a modern state, interpret theoretically the value and instrumental rationality of state and its systems, optimize institutionally state structural relations to achieve the coexistence and common development of diversification and integration, and to carry out the basic values of national development and governance in terms of policy.