趋同或多元?波多黎各与夏威夷政治身份比较

Converge or Remain Multiple? A Comparison of Political Identities between Puerto Rico and Hawaii

波多黎各和夏威夷同属美国领土,政治身份却迥然相异:前者是自治邦,而后者是美国唯一的群岛州。这种差异对两者的政治利益和公民政治权利等方面产生重要影响。其本质在于作为非合并领土的波多黎各无法平等地享受到完全的宪法权利,这是两者成为美国领土的法律路径不同所导致的地位差异。在当前形势下,虽然波多黎各已举行多次公投意图并入美国,但它对“第五十一州”身份的期望难以挑战美国联邦政府对其殖民地身份的建构以及对政治、经济与文化的现实考量,因此趋同之路仍然渺茫。

Puerto Rico and Hawaii,both American territory,have very different political identities:the for-mer is a self-government commonwealth and the latter is an“overseas state”of the United States.This difference has an important impact on the political interests and political rights of the two.The essence is that unincorporated territory cannot enjoy all the constitutional rights as a state does,which is the difference in legal status caused by the different legal paths in which the two become United States territories.In the current situation,will their political identities converge or remain multiple?Although Puerto Rico has held several plebiscites to join the US,its hopes for the identity,“51st State”,cannot challenge America’s construction of its colonial identity and practical considerations of economics,politics and culture,so the convergence remains uncertain.