The internationalism of stateless nations: The case of Hong Kong
Published online on May 03, 2022
Abstract
["Nations and Nationalism, EarlyView. ", "\nAbstract\nNationalism is often associated with xenophobia and isolationism in academic literature. The negative image of nationalism has been further strengthened by the electoral success of far‐right political figures across the world. However, treating all nationalism as a uniformly negative phenomenon risks over‐simplification, as nationalism might manifest differently given different social context and rhetorical resources available. Taking Hong Kong as a case, this paper theorises Hong Kong as a stateless nation and examines the alleged negative association of nationalism. It moves beyond the traditional ‘Hong Kong vis‐a‐vis China’ framework and explores the relationship between Hong Kong nationalists and non‐Chinese international actors. Drawing on data from major Hong Kong political parties' Facebook page, this paper shows that Hong Kong nationalism exhibits a high level of internationalism in both inward and outward dimensions, theorised, respectively, as the willingness to accept foreign influence and to invite international cooperation, and therefore offers a nuanced understanding about the relationship between nationalism, xenophobia and isolationism.\n"]