Abstract:In this article we analyze the impacts of a hierarchical administrative tradition on new governance in contemporary South Korea, focusing on ground-level practices of the local network governance in supporting settlements of North Korean refugees. By employing an interpretive approach that seeks to decenter governance in terms of diverse and contingent actions of policy actors against the

Abstract:Following the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in December 2011, Kim Jong Un assumed power and gradually transformed the policymaking environment in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea). While some analysts expected the young and inexperienced leader to face greater hardship than his father in managing the country, in this article I argue that Kim Jong Un

Abstract:In this article I explore assumptions behind the aspiration for nuclear armament in South Korea. An increasing number of South Koreans advocate nuclear armament of their country, either by redeploying US tactical nuclear weapons or by developing an indigenous nuclear capability. Support for "going nuclear" reflects three beliefs: nuclear weapons can serve as a shield from external bullying

"POWER" REMAINS A CENTRAL, IF NOT INDISPENSABLE, CONCEPT IN THE SOCIAL sciences and humanities. In no discipline is this clearer than international relations (IR), where the distribution of power i ...

Abstract:After dismissing the Sino-Russian partnership for the past decade, scholars now scramble to assess its significance, particularly with US foreign policy in disarray under the Trump administration. I examine how China and Russia manage their relations in East Asia and the impact of their approach to great power management on the creation of an East Asian order. According to English School theorist

Abstract:In this article, we focus on the bilateral relationship between Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, placing the contemporary development of the mutual relationships and cooperation between these two Muslim-majority nations into historical context Moreover, we describe not only formal political economic relationships but also informal cultural, educational, religious relations between the two states

Abstract:In this article, I examine Russia-US relations, focusing on their Asia Pacific dimension. I argue that the United States and Russia hold widely divergent visions of international order. Washington remains committed to the idea of US-led hegemony based on Western liberal values whereas Moscow champions a multipolar great power order founded upon the balance of power, Westphalian sovereignty

Abstract:Do norms influence Japan’s foreign aid? Japan’s aid policy statements have increasingly emphasized humanitarian and democratic values, but few studies demonstrate a shift in Japan’s aid policy that reflects this changing discourse. In this study, I seek to determine if Japan’s foreign aid commitments increasingly reflect normative factors or continue to be allocated based on commercial or

Ben S. Malcom with Ron Martz, White Tigers: My Secret War in Korea (Washington, DC: Brassey’s, 1996). Jieun Baek, North Korea s Hidden Revolution: How the Information Underground Is Transforming a Closed Society (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2016). Stephan Haggard and Marcus Noland, Hard Target: Sanctions, Inducements, and the Case of North Korea (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2017)

Abstract:Chinese and Russian officials and scholars discursively construct and reconstruct repeatedly the nature and boundaries of Eurasian regional integration in an ongoing process of regional order construction guided by diverging concepts that involve the Eurasian Economic Union, the Silk Road Economic Belt, and the Greater Eurasian Partnership. There is a process of accommodation and adaptation

Abstract:We examine the influence of the Korean diaspora residing in the Russian Far East (Primorskiy province) in promoting a pan-Korean identity in Northeast Asia. In doing so, we utilize the insights offered by the constructivist school of international relations on the role of evolving identities and transnational communities for cooperation. We investigate the trajectory of the development of

Abstract:State-owned enterprise (SOE) reform was introduced into Vietnam as a component of the Doi Moi economic reforms that began in 1986 and aimed to replace central planning with a more market-oriented economy. SOEs had performed poorly and were a drain on government resources. In this article we use a political economy framework to trace SOE reform through the various stages of policymaking and

Abstract:In this study we suggest new approaches to conceptualizing South Korean aid to North Korea as equivalent to official development assistance (ODA) by looking at its historical background and present situation, as well as related laws. We review the characteristics and development of South Korean aid to North Korea, compare it to ODA, and suggest an innovative way of conceptualizing it as ODA

Abstract:Although North Korea remains one of the most isolated countries in the world, hundreds of foreign actors continue to work quietly inside the country. What is the size and scope of foreign engagement inside the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)? What types of activities do nongovernmental organizations, businesses, and other private actors conduct? What has been the experience and

The reform of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) has been a leading element of public sector reform since the 1980s. Starting with the radical actions of Margaret Thatcher's government in the United Kingdom, privatization was disseminated across the world. By 2004, over $1 trillion of SOEs had been privatized. The privatization stampede represented the ascendancy of neoclassical economics and the view

Abstract:Why, in recent years, has the South Korean government introduced various changes in its immigration policy, diverging from a long history of relative closure toward foreign workers in the East Asian region? While existing studies on labor migration utilize pluralistic models of interest aggregation and competition, examining the preferences of different domestic groups such as firms, native

Abstract:In this article we examine the exceptional case of South Korea’s establishment of cooperative relations with Iran, despite the latter’s confrontation with the United States, South Korea’s closest ally, in the late 1970s and early 1980s. We discuss the conventional idea of the imbalanced relationship—the enemy of my ally is not my enemy—to explain South Korea’s approach toward Iran, evaluate

Abstract:In this article I address explanations of postcolonial state formation in Korea. Focusing on the impact of Japanese colonial legacies on Korea in the early period of US occupation, I examine how the historical experience of colonial rule reformulated people’s perception of collective membership in the national community, thereby conditioning and shaping Korea’s postcolonial division. I pay

Abstract:In this article, I explore media representations in a UK-owned online news outlet of the North Korean situation, drawing on the work of Michel Foucault and Stuart Hall as a means of analyzing the discursive formations through which representations of state criminality, associated victimization, and normative transgressions are presented to the audience. I argue that the strategy of encoding

Abstract:The advance of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has fundamentally changed the way people communicate and interact with each other, and the rise of the Internet profoundly affects political participation. In applying the latest Asian Barometer surveys, we discovered Internet-driven divergent effects on political participation, suggesting rising Internet usage is simultaneously

Abstract:South Korea is probably the most active state in the surging wave of East Asian regionalism. It has aggressively pursued free trade agreements (FTAs) with partners across the world in the past decade. My study focuses on the particular procedure of South Korea’s FTA formation. I develop a multistage approach to examine how South Korea proposes, negotiates, signs, and ratifies FTAs with other

Abstract:In this article we examine the politics of state-owned enterprise (SOE) reform in South Korea, specifically the privatization of Korea Electric Power Corporation. We focus on the policymaking process among government agencies and actors involved in SOE reform. The policy actors are identified, as are their preferences—efficiency versus the public good—and the strategies adopted to pursue them

During the twenty-first century’s wave of transnational farmland investment, Asian countries contributed to about half of the investment. I therefore address the following major questions: What is the food security situation across Asian countries? What are the factors that drive Asian countries to join the transnational farmland investment movement? I argue that the following four factors give rise

Abstract:North Korea and Myanmar both experienced core existential challenges early in their postcolonial history: the former via a challenger state in South Korea and its superpower ally the United States, the latter via multiple internal insurgencies. Both young states responded to these threats in an intensely militarized, authoritarian fashion. Their responses also eventually earned them pariah

Abstract:In this article we trace the history of state-owned enterprise (SOE) reform in Laos. Commencing in 1986, SOE reform was a component of the New Economic Mechanism (NEM), a program of changes that moved the economy toward one based on market principles. SOE reform is located within the broader reforms associated with the NEM and is divided into three distinct phases. We present and analyze a

Abstract:In this article, I address North Korea both in its latent stage and the reframing of its early political narratives to support the function and authority of its current government. These narratives of nationalistic and political struggle expand across geographic boundaries and are also bound by them—hence my focus on the Tumen River. Secondarily, I consider the reframing of riverine spaces

Abstract:Why, a quarter century after democratization, are Korean citizens so nostalgic about the former authoritarian Park Chung-hee government? What are the implications of this support for Korea’s democratic deepening? To answer these questions, I offer empirical analyses of selected data from the Korea Democracy Barometer 2010 survey that confirm the relevance of two dimensions of political support

Abstract:Although South Korea and Japan tend to maintain their identity as nonimmigration countries, a policy agenda for foreign residents has incrementally emerged, especially since the 1990s. In this comparative analysis, I examine the status of permanent and long-term residents and relevant policy changes that enhance their social and political rights regardless of naturalization. Permanent residents

Abstract:North Korea’s siege mentality is deeply rooted in negative experiences with out-groups in history. This worldview dominates its society and is the foundation of its mistrust toward the outside world. It has also become a crucial instrument for stable governance, social cohesion, and the regime’s allocation of resources. However, in foreign affairs, negative or aggressive attitudes toward other

Abstract:Over the past two decades Korea and Japan have experienced a rapid inflow of foreign population into their homogeneous societies. Despite their many similarities in immigration control policies, Korea and Japan have differed in their politics of immigrant incorporation. Korea's central government has instituted policies that favor female marriage migrants and children of international marriages

Abstract:I examine the experiences of South Korean nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that provide aid to North Korea in order to assess the success and limitations of the NGO movement. With reference to the political role of NGOs in constructivist theory, I identify three factors that have hindered the formation of a sustainable partnership between the South Korean government and NGOs since the

Abstract:This article deals with the impact on the North Korean domestic situation produced by the 1989 visit to Pyongyang by Yim Su-gyong, a young student activist from South Korea. Going there in defiance of South Korea’s official policy, she was enthusiastically welcomed by the North Korean authorities, who strove to present her as an embodiment of the alleged revolutionary spirit of South Korean

Abstract:In our article, we discuss development issues in a strategically important Russian territory—Khasanskii Raion (district). We focus on the implementation of infrastructure projects within the framework of establishing the International Transportation Corridor Primor’e-2, and on subjective assessments of modernization in terms of the common good. We conclude that an assessment of the rhetoric