Memes, narratives and the emergent US-China security dilemma
Memes, narratives and the emergent US-China security dilemma
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DOI：
10.1080/09557571.2019.1622083
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发表时间：
2019-07-06
影响因子：
1.4
通讯作者：
Johnston, Alastair Lain
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Breuer, Adam;Johnston, Alastair Lain
所有解释美中之间日益激烈的竞争的主要理论方法都有一个共同的预测：随着紧张局势的发展，美国和中国将各自构建一个主要叙事，强调零和利益，强制的有效性，以及认为自己对对方的侵略无可指责。然而，这些叙事出现的具体过程既没有明确的理论化，也没有在实践中加以衡量。我们的理论是，在数字媒体时代，当“模因”——离散的、广泛传播的关于自我或他者的图像/描述——被连接成连贯的故事，最终合并成一个关于竞争的主要叙事时，叙事就出现了。因此，我们认为，跟踪模因的速度和传播提供了一个有用的安全困境动态指标。为此，我们注意到，在美国，美中竞争与一种将中国描述为“挑战基于规则的国际秩序”（RBO）的著名模因有关。我们使用定性和定量的文本分析，包括网络和抄袭分析，来跟踪这一模因的传播。我们提供的初步证据表明，RBO迷因和“修正主义中国”的叙事可能会排挤其他关于中国崛起的不那么恶意的叙事。
All major theoretical approaches that explain the growing rivalry between the United States (US) and China share a common prediction: as tensions develop, the US and China will each construct a master narrative emphasizing zero-sum interests, the efficacy of coercion, and the perceived blamelessness of the Self for the Other's aggressions. However, the concrete process by which these narratives emerge has been neither explicitly theorized nor measured in practice. We theorize that in the digital media age, narratives emerge when 'memes'-discrete, widely circulated images/descriptions of the Self or Other-are connected into coherent stories that eventually coalesce into a master narrative of rivalry. We therefore argue that tracking the speed and spread of memes provides a useful indicator of security dilemma dynamics. To this end, we note that in the United States the US-China rivalry is associated with a prominent meme that describes China as 'challenging the international rules-based order' (RBO). We use qualitative and quantitative text analysis, including network and plagiarism analysis, to track the spread of this meme. We provide preliminary evidence that the RBO meme and the 'revisionist China' narrative may be crowding out other, less malign narratives about China's rise.