International identity in the context of rapid modernization. Comparative analysis of South Korea and Hong Kong.

dc.abstract.en	This thesis examines how South Korea’s and Hong Kong’s international identities differ despite both cases undergoing rapid, externally-conditioned modernization in the second half of the twentieth century. Adopting a constructivist theoretical framework, the thesis understands international identity as the socially constructed self-understanding through which a state or political entity defines its position, purpose, and mode of engagement in the international system, studied empirically through national role conceptions. Two case-specific theoretical instruments are applied: Chang Kyung-Sup’s compressed modernity for South Korea, and Law Wing Sang’s colonial modernity for Hong Kong, both chosen for their indigenous epistemological grounding in the cases they were developed to explain. Using a qualitative comparative historical case study design, the thesis traces the evolution of each identity from the mid-twentieth century to the present. The domestic and external factors shaping both trajectories are examined, alongside the concrete instruments through which each identity is expressed externally: middle power diplomacy, soft power, paradiplomacy, and branding strategies. The comparison shows that the two identities differ in content, mechanisms that produced them, and in channels and trajectories of their expression, with sovereignty emerging as the most decisive, though not only, factor behind this divergence. The thesis concludes that international identity does not imply statehood, but that statehood determines whether an identity can be autonomously sustained and revised or remains dependent on an external sovereign authority.
dc.affiliation	Uniwersytet Warszawski
dc.affiliation.department	Wydział Nauk Politycznych i Studiów Międzynarodowych
dc.contributor.author	Grešner, Melissa
dc.contributor.promoter	Nadziak, Michał
dc.contributor.reviewer	Gryniuk, Kateryna
dc.contributor.reviewer	Nadziak, Michał
dc.date.defence	2026-07-23
dc.date.issued	2026
dc.date.submitted	2026-07-08
dc.identifier.apd	248580
dc.language	en
dc.language.other	pl
dc.publisher	Uniwersytet Warszawski
dc.rights	ClosedAccess
dc.subject.en	International identity
dc.subject.en	constructivism
dc.subject.en	role conception
dc.subject.en	rapid modernization
dc.subject.en	compressed modernity
dc.subject.en	colonial modernity
dc.subject.en	South Korea
dc.subject.en	Hong Kong
dc.subject.en	soft power
dc.subject.en	paradiplomacy
dc.title	International identity in the context of rapid modernization. Comparative analysis of South Korea and Hong Kong.
dc.title.alternative	Tożsamość międzynarodowa w kontekście gwałtownej modernizacji. Analiza porównawcza Korei Południowej i Hong Kongu.
dc.type	BachelorThesis