Seeking status and ontological security in hierarchy: Korea in the historical East Asian order.

This article examines how secondary states in international hierarchies pursue distinctive strategies to define and secure their identities, focusing on Korea's relationship with imperial China during the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1912) dynasties. It develops a synthetic theory combining social identity theory (SIT) and ontological security studies to explain why Chosŏn Korea voluntarily subordinated itself to the Ming and later prioritized its identity security over physical survival during the Qing rise, despite the risks involved. The study argues that Korea's adoption of Confucianism and the Sinocentric worldview was a deliberate status-seeking strategy to secure its place in the Confucian world order, and that its refusal to accept Qing hegemony reflected a deep ontological attachment to its Ming-centered identity. This identity-driven behavior challenges realist and cultural explanations by highlighting the agency of secondary states in shaping hierarchical international relations and suggests avenues for comparative research with other East Asian states like Vietnam.