Juggling identities: Identification, collective memory, and practices of self-presentation in the United Nations General Debate
| Published date | 01 May 2024 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/13691481231156906 |
| Author | Tracy Adams,Mor Mitrani |
| Date | 01 May 2024 |
https://doi.org/10.1177/13691481231156906
The British Journal of Politics and
International Relations
2024, Vol. 26(2) 277 –298
© The Author(s) 2023
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DOI: 10.1177/13691481231156906
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Juggling identities:
Identification, collective
memory, and practices of
self-presentation in the United
Nations General Debate
Tracy Adams1 and Mor Mitrani2
Abstract
The concept of collective memory receives increasing attention in international relations. This
burgeoning scholarship, however, mainly centres on its role as a strategic tool in foreign policy,
binding it to national context. This research uses collective memory as an analytical framework
to gauge identification processes at the international level. Specifically, we examine how states
self-present themselves with various collective We’s and against multiple others. Contingent upon
exclusive biographical narratives, we show how states transform and present collective memories
in ways that resonate with their particular identity combination. Using inductive comparative
analysis of speeches delivered by heads of state of Germany, the United States, and Israel during
United Nations General Assembly sessions (1991–2017), analysis demonstrates how states evoke
the past to narrate who they are, as states. Expanding understanding regarding how historical
events are utilised in foreign policy, findings illustrate the dynamic juggling process states perform
with various elements of self.
Keywords
collective memory, identity, narrative, political speech, self-presentation, United Nations General
Assembly
Introduction
Identity is a core concept in international relations (IR) constructivist theory. During the
past few decades, the vast identity literature has been dedicated to theorising the socio-
political roles of state identity, namely, how state identity both affects and is affected by
dynamic political relations and phenomena (see Berenskoetter, 2010; Guillaume, 2010;
Lebow, 2016, for theoretical overviews). Building on the intrinsic nexus between identity
1Department of Sociology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
2Department of Political Studies, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
Corresponding author:
Tracy Adams, Department of Sociology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.
Email: Tracy.adams@yale.edu
1156906BPI0010.1177/13691481231156906The British Journal of Politics and International RelationsAdams and Mitrani
research-article2023
Original Article
278 The British Journal of Politics and International Relations 26(2)
and collective memory, this article introduces the concept of collective memory as an
analytical and empirical framework for examining the manifestation and presentation of
active and interactive, albeit latent and tacit, processes of identity construction and iden-
tification that run ‘behind the scenes’.
Collective memory, defined as widely shared perceptions of the past (Bell, 2006),
plays a vital role in constructing, reproducing, and contesting political identities. As a
fundamental element in the consolidation, construction, and maintenance of collective
identities, extensive research has examined how states narrate national collective memo-
ries and to what avail, especially as part of national foreign policies (Bell, 2006; Budryte
and Resende, 2013; Innes and Steele, 2014; Langenbacher and Shain, 2010; Pinkerton,
2012; Zehfuss, 2007). Broadly, research has shown how states, mainly through historical
analogy or context (Edy, 1999), evoke past events to inspire and mobilise to action as well
as to legitimise and promote foreign policy (Khong, 1992; Neustadt and May, 1986).
However, despite the increasing attention to the concept of collective memory in IR, its
use remains primarily anchored to the national context. In this respect, IR literature hardly
refers to transnational (De Cesari and Rigney, 2014) or transcultural collective memories
(Radstone, 2011) or to possible formulations of shared or parallel collective memories
that consolidate through the encounter with collectives at the international, regional and
global levels. Addressing this lacuna, this research introduces collective memory as an
analytical framework to gauge the ways in which states juggle different self-identification
processes in multinational settings. Specifically, we examine how three different states –
United States, Israel and Germany, identify and accordingly self-present themselves with
various collective We’s and against multiple others.
This article offers both theoretical and empirical analysis of the role of collective
memory in identification processes at the international level. It offers a theoretical frame-
work that stretches the notions of collective memory and thus of identity beyond the
national level. We probe how states present identity combinations that rely on four tiers
of collective memories: national, regional, international, and global.1 We further contend
that contingent upon states’ exclusive biographical narratives (Berenskoetter, 2014), or
autobiographical narratives (Subotić, 2016), we can expect states to translate, transform,
and present collective memories in a way that resonates with their particular identity
combination, underlining the constant juggling act states undertake when conversing with
other states and against changing political circumstances. Empirically, we examine
dynamics in how states present themselves to international audiences following the end
of the Cold War in the discursive arena of the United Nations General Assembly (1991–
2017). Analysing speeches delivered in the UN General Assembly debate (UNGD), our
research explores how past events can be evoked at scales other than the domestic, and
examines how the different tiers of memories are constructed and presented in the UNGD
speeches so as to yield variances in the identity combinations of three states – the United
States, Israel, and Germany.
The article proceeds as follows. The first section develops an analytical framework for
applying collective memory in IR to better understand present international dialogue
through constructions of the past. The second and third sections delineate the methodo-
logical framework that underlies the empirical research and its main findings. In the final
section, we discuss the potential of applying a collective memory framework to the study
of IR at large via examining how states present and identify themselves to a multinational
audience through the evocation of the past.
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