SOAS, University of London (The School of Oriental and African Studies)

National Identity and Election Campaigning in Hong Kong and Taiwan

Abstract:

The study investigates how national and local identities are manipulated by political parties in Taiwan and Hong Kong in political marketing during election campaigns. It analyses the construction of these identities along a civic versus ethno-cultural and indigenous versus Chinese identity spectrum and tracks changes and movements over time. The study questions prevailing assumptions of parties’ identity rhetoric. The comparative approach also reveals how different means of communication lead to variations in identity emphasis.

In 2012 Hong Kong marks the fifteenth anniversary of the ‘handover’ and contrary to many predictions surveys indicate the local Hong Kong identity has reached a ten year high. In Taiwan, two decades after the beginning of democratisation, survey data also continues to show a trend towards a strengthening of Taiwan identity and the issue is still a key factor in elections.

This comparative study argues that the prominence of the identity issue in the two places is due to its central role in the political discourse and political campaigning. The research investigates the interactive relationship between political parties and voters in the identity realm.

It is shown how political parties seek to evoke identity sentiments for political gain while at the same time voters’ visions of identities shape the behaviour of parties. The study is based on a detailed ethno-graphic analysis of campaign instruments of the election campaigns of major political parties with particular emphasis on examining election advertisements such as campaign literature, television, newspaper and Internet advertisements. Quantitative findings support the qualitative study which focuses on the collected indicative samples.

The study establishes an innovative analytical framework as the core of the methodology that makes it possible to track the movements of parties’ identity options on two levels: on a spectrum between ethno-cultural and civic identity and on a spectrum between Chinese identity and an indigenous identity (Taiwan or Hong Kong identity).

The findings show that with strong and even rising indigenous identities in Hong Kong and Taiwan, the voters are likely to continue to force parties to adapt to indigenous identities. The implication of identity issues in Hong Kong and Taiwan politics is still fresh and long-lasting.

About the Speaker:

Dr Malte Philipp Kaeding is Lecturer in International Politics at University of Surrey. He has published on electioneering and identity in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. Further research areas include identity politics and identity changes, elections and election campaigning, political marketing, political party development and democratisation as well as youth and politics in the Greater China area. He is a member of the Hong Kong Transition Project and an Associate Fellow of the European Research Center on Contemporary Taiwan.