ABSTRACT
After a brief discussion of the developments and shortcomings in constructivist identity research, this chapter consolidates some parameters for what a theoretically sound and empirically useful identity approach has to encompass; illustrates the corresponding gap of state identity research on South Korea as a foreign policy actor, in particular; and presents the integrative potential of role theory as a further way forward. Acknowledging the complexity of identity, which encompasses the individual and the collective and that state and the nation, as well as historical, cultural, and material aspects, forces the rebuttal of simple or parsimonious conceptualizations of identity. There is a commonsense agreement, however, that having an identity means having a sense of self, without which the actor would be unable to perceive and enact any meaningful agency. This book argues that one solution lies in a multidimensional understanding of identity as a narratively, performatively, and emotionally formed phenomenon. Here, the rich conceptual language and multilevel perspective of role-theoretical approaches can have an integrative function regarding the clarification of terminology and the opening of an empirically promising way of grasping “international state identities” beyond their manifestations in social identities.
