Doctoral Dissertation Research: Understanding the Dynamics of State Power and Militant Nationalism

社会主义国家权力研究是人文社会科学探索的交叉学科之一。我相信，我的项目将对专门研究国家权力的政治社会学家和社会科学家产生重大的普遍兴趣。从社会学角度，通过对朝鲜难民的深入访谈和民族志观察，我对朝鲜好战民族主义的研究可以：(1)使我们能够通过质的研究方法深入研究一直被认为是高不可攀的朝鲜社会；(2)从国家与公民社会关系的角度，帮助我们从理论上了解社会主义国家是如何行使其权力的，以及公民如何在理论上对国家权力作出反应；(3)帮助我们理解不同于传统极权主义方法的另一种社会主义国家权力视角。这项研究的学术价值在于，它通过研究斯大林国家社会主义的自下而上的政治，对国家权力和社会文化转型的理论做出了贡献。一个独特的贡献是探索以国家好战的民族主义为代表的公民的日常政治。这项研究对于将个人的生活置于分析的中心，并突出他们的日常做法在民族主义政治中被塑造和重塑的方式是重要的。本研究更大的理论贡献在于从国家与社会关系的角度对国家权力提出了新的理解。这将使我们能够考虑斯大林国家社会主义中的一种新的国家权力机制。这项研究还有几个更广泛的影响。这项研究的结果不仅将在学术界传播，还将在美国国内外的个人和社会组织中传播。这项研究将对参与过渡社会主义国家及其社会变革的个人和社会组织具有重要意义。这些发现可能有助于更好地理解转型社会主义社会中国家与公民社会之间的关系，并为其和平的社会变革提供见解。因此，本研究可能有助于为和平的国际政治提供洞察力。

The study of socialist state power is one of the interdisciplinary studies which humanities and social sciences have explored. I believe that my project will be of significant general interest to political sociologists and social scientists who specialize in state power. Sociologically, my research on North Korean militant nationalism through in-depth interviews and ethnographic observation with North Korean refugees can: (1) enable us to delve into North Korean society, which has been regarded as unapproachable, through the qualitative research method; (2) help us understand how the socialist state exerted its power and how the citizens reacted to state power theoretically in terms of the relationship between the state and civil society; (3) help us understand an alternative perspective of socialist state power that is differentiated from the traditional approach of totalitarianism. The intellectual merits of this study are its contribution to theories of state power and socio-cultural transformation through a study of the bottom-up politics of Stalinist state socialism. A unique contribution is to explore citizens' everyday politics which is represented by the state's militant nationalism. This study is important for placing individuals' lives at the center of the analysis, and highlighting the way in which their everyday practices are shaped and reshaped within nationalist politics. The larger theoretical contribution of this research is to suggest a new understanding of state power in terms of the relationship between the state and society. This will allow us to consider a new mechanism of state power in Stalinist state socialism. This study also has several broader impacts. The findings of this study will be disseminated not only in the academic community but also among individuals and social organizations in and beyond the U.S. This study will be of significant interest to individuals and social organizations which engage in transitional socialist states and their social changes. These findings may suggest a better understanding of the relationship between the state and civil society in transitional socialist societies and provide insights for their peaceful social changes. Therefore, this study may contribute to providing insights for peaceful international politics.