SELF-INTERESTED PATRIOTS: INDIVIDUAL CHOICE AND STATE-LED NATIONALIST MOBILIZATION IN CHINA

Abstract

The literature on nationalist movements emphasizes the role played by political elites and addresses the question of why such elites appeal to nationalism to mobilize the masses. Few attempts have been made to explain why the masses respond to mobilization by political elites. This article returns agency to the mass participants in nationalist movements. By comparing four cases of state-led nationalist mobilization in Chinese history, it concludes that two factors¿domestic institutions and the public¿s perception of foreign threats¿determine whether the masses will respond to state mobilization. State-led nationalist mobilization is more likely to succeed when the public perceives a strong and imminent foreign threat and when domestic institutions are pro-majority.