Agent versus structure in the construction of national identity

This chapter examines the contribution constructivism and psychological theories of social identification can together make to an account of national identity. It argues that, in concert, they yield an account of national identity that explains changing interests and foreign policy behavior and that more fully appreciates the role national leaders play in forging national identities. The chapter focuses on the evolution of Britain's perceptions of identity, first taking up the origins of these perceptions and then briefly considering their impact on British policy. There are two problems with this daring analytic leap: First, The minimal group paradigm (MGP) is not so deterministic that it predicts only one form of national identity or international relations, and second, the linkage between individual biases and images. The elaborate edifice of constructivism in not required simply to observe that, in British eyes, the image of Egypt and its leader changed dramatically in the year leading up to the Suez crisis.