Neither This Nor That: Understanding North Korea via Role Theory

This chapter presents the DPRK within a set of dichotomous identities that highlights an ambivalent, alternative and essentially awkward power position within the international system. It rests on Sociological and Social Psychology assumptions surrounding Role Theory and looks at the DPRK’s own representation as a (1) victim/champion of world politics, (2) struggling/leading economic force, and (3) independent/interdependent power in a global context. It concludes that the DPRK is unlikely to move to a small state status as this would mean relinquishing its nuclear weapons, yet those very weapons are equally unlikely to be accepted by the international community as a sign that the DPRK is a great power. This leaves the Korean peninsula in a relatively stable period of awkwardness, and the DPRK as an awkward middle power.