From Fantasy Reconstruction To Fantasy Rigidity:The Identity Paranoia Of Rising Nations From A Post-Structuralist Perspective

With the linguistic turn in international political science,post-structuralist international relations theory has gradually become a unique perspective for people to examine international relations.This article draws on the relevant theories of the Lacanian school in the post-structuralist camp,focusing on key psychoanalytic terms such as desire,narrative,illusion,and identity,and constructs a new analytical framework for the identity dilemma of rising powers.Against the backdrop of the rise of material power,the drastic changes in the external environment have made rising powers pay more attention to seeking their own ontological security.Within the narrative framework constructed by illusions,rising powers construct a paranoid identity of "life or death" towards a specific object of desire.The political consequences of this paranoid identity will lead to the rigidity of rising power’s foreign policies,the expansion of differences with others,the increase of hostility towards each other,and ultimately the decline or even failure of the rising power.This article tests the theoretical framework using the case of the Shu Han dynasty’s pursuit of "legitimacy." The Shu Han dynasty constructed a paranoid identity of "the royal business cannot be biased,and the Han thief cannot coexist" in its hysterical pursuit of "legitimacy," and the northward military expeditions based on this identity consumed the power of the Shu Han dynasty,making it the earliest among the Three Kingdoms to fall.The author proposes some thoughts on how to resolve the identity dilemma of rising powers at the end of the article,and suggests that China should also be aware of being misled by illusions and maintain a healthier and more open policy practice space...