Ontologies of a Nation : South Korea's national biographies, Self and foreign policy behavior towards North Korea

Abstract: Ontological security scholars have thus far been unable to account for recurring variation in a state’s foreign policy behavior. The aim of this thesis is to explore and suggest an explanation to this phenomenon. The cause behind the puzzle is an inadequate understanding of the nation-state and national identity, which are widely accepted as something uniform and coherent within Westphalian borders. In this thesis, I adopt Berenskoetter’s (2014) approach of the nation-state’s ontology as a national biography, but I additionally argue, that more than one national biography can exist within the Westphalian borders of a state. This assumption allows us in turn to understand recurring variation in a state’s foreign policy behavior within the assumption of constant ontological security-seeking. In this thesis, I will explore the case of South Korea, which varying behavior towards North Korea is a result of its two national biographies and a constant pursuit of ontological security.