Description
This paper asks why threat-based identity dichotomies persist even when a state’s behaviour changes. Looking at China’s rise, it shows that efforts to project a peaceful identity often reinforce, rather than challenge, threat perceptions. I call this the self-categorisation recursive loop, a process where peaceful performances stabilise negative external framings. The argument draws on Chinese state-produced documentaries and explains how relations in international politics are maintained through repeated performances of identity.
