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This paper examines the South Korean people's authoritarian experiences in developing and sustaining a popular New Community Movement since its creation in 1970. By analysing three key features of the initial stage of the NCM under the growth-oriented authoritarian Park Chung Hee state (1961-1979), the paper argues that the NCM experience provided the majority of Koreans, particularly rural peasants and women, hands-on-training in participatory village-community democracy, which in turn provided a wide range of social opportunities, even unwittingly, for their own empowerment. The paper also argues that the Korean people's training in village-community democracy also provided a self-awakening experience, through which they built their own set of ideas of self-identity as the people or minjung and of minjung democracy which was essentially an off-shoot of the NCM, more specifically, Park's idea of "Korean democracy". The paper suggests that the recent resurgence of the NCM may reflect the democratic legacy of the authoritarian Park era, epitomized in its "Can-do" participatory ethos and the fierce nationalism of the Koreans, albeit in a highly sophisticated and yet paradoxical way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, there has been rising interest in candidate quality and characteristics among political scientists. Scholars have analyzed the impact of candidate quality on electorates' candidate evaluations and vote choice. Most of the often-cited work on candidate quality deals with candidates and elections in the U.S. with a lesser amount of work focusing on European countries. It is remarkable that very few of these studies on candidate quality focus on elections in new democracies. As new democracies have had relatively little time to develop candidate recruitment processes, candidate quality is probably low compared to the established democracies of Western Europe and North America. Therefore, new democracies can be fertile ground for the study of the lack of candidate quality and its impact on voting behavior. In this paper, we study candidate quality and elections in one of the new democracies, Korea. Previous studies of voting behavior in Korea and in new democracies, in general, usually look at the vote choice of the electorate along established and/or emerging social cleavages, such as class differences, regionalism, religion, as well as macro environmental factors, such as the national economy. We utilize survey data to analyze the impact of the specific quality of candidates (candidate characteristics) on the vote choice of the electorate. If the quality of political candidates does not keep pace with that of the sophisticated public, we may see apathy on the part of the electorate (low turnout) or a form of negative voting. The election we analyze is the latest presidential election in Korea held in December 2007. Our results show a high level of negative voting in response to the candidates' perceived negative traits. Our work is a testimony that voters in new democracies also pay attention to the individual candidate's quality or characteristics, and make their vote choice accordingly. Therefore, future studies of voting behavior in new democracies should include candidate quality (or characteristics, traits or whatever it is called) as an explanatory variable in their models. We end the paper by offering our conjecture about why the electorate's perception of candidate quality is so low in Korea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this paper is on the Roh Moo-hyun government's self-promoted "regional balancer" initiative. Although Roh's exploration of the notion of South Korea as a 'balancer' did not last long after heavy criticism he dropped the phrase almost immediately - its use posed an intriguing question: how, and to what extent, did South Korea identify and locate itself vis-à-vis neighbouring powers at the beginning of the 21st century in Northeast Asia? This paper problematises and discusses how the Roh Moo-hyun government conceived, identified and projected the state identity which drove South Korea's actions in international politics. Theoretically, the paper aims to develop an overarching approach to the study of 'middle power' and 'state identity', introducing a new concept, that of "middle power identity". The term 'middle power' has long been used in political discourse to describe the foreign policies of various countries, but there is little agreement on what constitutes, and how to define, middle power in international politics. The concept of 'middle power identity', therefore, is a contribution which seeks to improve conceptual flaws around 'middle power'. Empirically, the paper sets out a state's multifaceted identities. It demonstrates the impact of the Roh government's middle power aspiration which led to the identity dilemma between conflicting identities and confrontational interests. It describes the tension between an antagonistic and associational Korean national identity on the one hand, i.e. the Korean 'national' identity in which the two Koreas have shared throughout history, and a dependent and independent client identity on the other, i.e. the 'client' identity with which Seoul has long been associated in the ROK-U.S. alliance system. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has highlighted the "peaceful rise (heping jueqi)" in its projection of power, and the slogan will be retained during the second-term of Hu Jintao after the 17th National Party Congress. To corroborate the ideas, the country has been adopting various "soft power (ruan shili)" tools, and, in Asia at least, China's "charm offensive" has been working effectively, according to Joshua Kurlantzick.Recently, however, the ascendancy of China's soft power has been challenged in one of its neighboring countries, South Korea. The perception of South Koreans regarding China has been skewed to be negative for the past couple of years. On the other hand, in China, the "Korean Cultural Wave (hanliu)" has apparently started its ebb and has frequently faced "anti-hanliu" discourses, which are an extension of Chinese nationalism, practically employed by the communist party of China. Against this backdrop, my paper will try to 1) elaborate the current mutual perception between Korea and China; 2) address major factors affecting the mutual perception; and, 3) discuss what is the significance of the changing mutual perception to the current and future relations between Korea and China.For this paper, I will mainly rely on archive research and interview. For example, I will exam Chinese and Korean journal articles, reports, and empirical survey data. Also, I will visit China and Korea this summer to conduct interviews with Korean and Chinese professors and bureaucrats. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Korea has pursued the so-called "sunshine policy" (unilateral engagement policy) toward North Korea for almost a decade. This policy, first enunciated by President Kim Dae-Jung in 1998, was expected to bringabout a new era of inter-Korean reconciliation and Korea's peaceful unification. President Roh Moo-Hyun, the successor to President Kim, carried on the torch. He dubbed his North Korea policy "Policy of Peace and Prosperity," but his policy was substantively identical with the sunshine policy. Despite some publicity stunts in 2000, the sunshine policy has failed to untangle the Korean knots. The North Korean nuclear crisis lingers on and inter-Korean relations are peppered with periodic tensions. It is a high time that we critically reexamined the sunshine policy. This paper will critically assess South Korea's engagement policy toward North Korea. What were the premises and expectations of the sunshine policy? How did it impact North-South Korean relations and US-DPRK relations? What were the inherent problems and contradictions with the policy? Are there any alternatives to this policy? These are the questions this paper will address. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Korea has been a forerunner in graduating from the process of modernization and proactively accommodating forces of globalization. Nevertheless, Korean nationalism has remained well and alive and even resurfaced as a dominant domestic discourse, defying post-modernist efforts to deconstruct it. The proposed paper locates the causes of South Korea’s resurgent nationalism in its collective memory and reinterpretation of historical past as rekindled by assertive nationalism in Japan and China. The paper attempts to trace how assertive nationalist moves in China (e.g., its Northeast Project) and Japan (e.g., the Dokdo, tribute to the Yasukuni shrine, history textbooks, and comfort women) have triggered equally powerful reactive nationalist sentiments in South Korea, and elucidates how such reactive nationalism affects its overall perception of, and foreign policy on, China and Japan. The paper finally presents some theoretical and policy suggestions to overcome the trapping structure of parochial nationalism in Northeast Asia. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been fifty-five years since the conclusion of the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement (KAA), but a peace regime on the Korean peninsula replacing the KAA with a peace treaty has not yet been achieved. For the last fifty-five years, the two Koreas have attempted to build a peace regime on the Korean peninsula. But their conflicting approaches to a peace mechanism are major obstacles to the Korean peace regime building process. The DPRK has insisted on concluding a peace treaty between the United States and itself to replace the KAA since 1974, while the ROK has equally insisted on a peace treaty between the two Koreas. The six-party talks have been stalled because of North Korea's delayed nuclear declaration of all of its nuclear activities and stockpiles under the October 3, 2007 deal among six nations. When the declaration problem is resolved, the six-party talks will discuss the Phase III (dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear facilities) and a Korean peninsula peace forum. Thus, it is significant to review North Korea's peace regime-building initiative and to make a preparation for a Korean peace forum within the framework of the six-party talks.This paper first will briefly review North Korean peace regime proposals, including re-evaluation of the four-party talks and the six-party talks dealing with a Korean peace regime building, and will look into the major problems of transforming the 1953 Korean armistice agreement into a Korean peninsula peace treaty before it will make policy suggestions for establishing a peace system on the Korean peninsula. The paper will focus on a North Korean perspective on a peace regime building. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the recent passage of the US-South Korea Free Trade Agreement, protest emerged in both normalized places of public political activity (parks, streets and government buildings) and in smaller, local community-based efforts (such as rural organizing and non-profit local markets). The disparate spatial and tactical differences of these efforts speak to the uneven, overlapping and gendered performances of contemporary manifestations of anti-capitalist resistance. Through the combination of ethnographic research with Lacanian psychoanalysis, this paper will develop an account of the importance of re-presenting the varied places of contemporary Korean protest, and the deployments of masculinities embodied in alternative tactics and strategies. Focusing on protests by farmers on Jeju Island, local non-profit markets in Hongdae and worker mobilization in Dondaemun, this paper will develop the links between local protest and global capitalist forces. As such, the protest site becomes a situated deployment of capitalism and its immediate resistances, international relations as local manifestation, and a space of political action that constitutes subjectivity through refigurations of gender. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By examining Korean dirigisme, or system of state-led development, its socio-economic consequences, and its post-1997 reform efforts and trends, this paper aims to suggest how Korea’s fundamentally undemocratic and exclusionary mode of statism threatens the nation’s long-term socio-economic health, laying out what human-centered development entails and why Korea would want to reconstruct the state and redefine its goals and means on the basis of the concept of people-centeredness. Among other things, the present paper critically looks at the increasing polarization of the Korean society, economy and industrial structure; the current inadequacies of the financial intermediaries and city banks in particular in supplying corporate investment funds or in helping to improve corporate governance by making a long-term commitment through debt-equity swaps and by learning to provide credible credit analysis and monitoring based on accumulated information; and the government’s persistent failure in fully enforcing existing laws and rules on insider trading, accounting fraud, and other illegal transactions especially in the wake of the crisis and subsequent reforms. Clearly, reconstructing the state and thereby crafting a democratic and empowering dirigisme constitutes Korea’s pressing task in its quest for a good society. Such reconstruction of the state does not in any way eliminate national sovereignty; it may just transform the means and purposes of the nation-state without weakening or withering its capacity. The reconstructed state can and does play a positive role in transforming state-society relations, providing social safety nets, empowering financial institutions, inventing a vibrant civil society and actively building democratic institutions to allow for orderly bottom-up changes. The key indeed lies in how to forge what mixture of state and market. As the purpose of human-centered development is to enhance the well-being, economic equity, human dignity, liberty and community of the ordinary citizens, indispensable would be empowering people especially at lower levels both in and outside of government bureaucracies. The delegation of authority needs to occur not just between higher and lower institutions and organizations, but also within each and every organization. If the pattern of heads of institutions running their organizations as their own fiefdom gets simply replicated at lower levels, such de-concentration would be inadequate to serve the needs of ordinary people. If heads of lower organizations were to act only as little czars pursuing their own personal purposes, such de-concentration or decentralization may not have achieved much except a fragmentation and localization of the essentially same, if centralized, spoils system. Thus, institutionalization of democratic values such as public trust and rule of law also needs to occur. Still, dirigiste choice of growth over equity at an early stage of development process may not be easily reversible at a later stage. Dirigiste development and undemocratic governance create entrenched, self-sustaining interests and structures that no amount of reform politics as usual can touch. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper has examined selected diplomatic communications during the prisoner of war crisis in South Korea on June 18, 1953 near the end of the Korean War. Key actors/institutions in this incident were President Dwight Eisenhower, the U.S. State Department (including Secretary of State John Foster Dulles), the U.S. military (including the United Nations Command) and the U.S. Embassy in South Korea; on the South Korean side, the key participant was President Syngman Rhee assisted by some of his subordinates. The bulk of contacts were telegrams, but memoranda of conversations, telephone calls and face-to-face meetings were also involved. The sequence of communications analyzed here began in April 1953 and ended with communications in the days after the June 18, 1953 release of an estimated 25,000 North Korean anti-communist prisoners of war held in prison camps in South Korea. This paper has also touched on the role of national memory in diplomatic communications. As Lee seemed to suggest, the Korean people have faced such serious difficulties in modern history, that South Korean government officials' actions in office may have been affected by memories of such troubling events. President Rhee's release of the thousands of prisoners--a step taken without adequately informing the U.S. government and the UNC--led to strong criticism of the South Korean president. In fact, the U.S.-South Korean alliance was shaken by Rhee's action. In the end, however, the alliance held and the armistice was signed. Lessons from this crisis include the following: allies must trust and respect each other; allies must consult with each other as much as possible; differences over policy occur, so steps must be taken to deal with such differences; and various forms of communication may be necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rising anti-Americanism in the winter of 2002 despite the increasing security threats from North Korea, has led some to call the situation a crisis in the ROK-U.S. alliance. However, the opinion polls from June 2003 and February 2004 show that anti- Americanism in South Korea has substantially waned. The main aim of this paper is to examine whether the recent wave of anti-Americanism has the content and intensity to threaten the legitimacy of the ROK-U.S. alliance. By analyzing the changes in public attitude and perception towards the U.S. over the past two years based on three survey data, this paper argues that anti-Americanism in South Korea has not posed any real threat to the alliance. However, the polarized public opinion towards the U.S. remains a potentially serious threat to the future of the ROK-U.S. alliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a study of ethnic migration policy of South Korea toward Talbukja (North Korean defectors). I attempt to examine why South Korea has taken a restrictive migration policy toward its own ethnic group (North Korean defectors or so-called Talbukja). I outline some of the major debates on immigration control policies and within the framework of these arguments, I give some possible explanations of why South Korea has a restrictive migration policy toward Talbukja. I initially follow Myron Weiner's division of the debates on how the migrants or refugees affect either the receiving or sending or both countries as a structure for my arguments. Weiner divides the debates into cultural, economic and political parts. This paper attempts to cover them all but concentrates more on the debate over political argument which seems the most convincing argument to explain the South Korean restrictive immigration policy toward its own race. Lastly, I give some policy recommendations and concluding remarks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper compares the Malaysia's and South Korea's efforts to restore financial stability and to restructure the banking system since the onset of the financial crisis in July 1997. Bank reform and restructuring have been undertaken to address weaknesses in the sector that had rendered them vulnerable following huge currency depreciation sparked by sudden and massive international capital outflows. As a consequence of its reduced exposure to private bank borrowings from abroad, Malaysia was not in a situation of having to go cap in hand to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or to others for emergency international credit facilities. Unlike South Korea, where state capacities were often undermined by neo-liberal reforms and policy conditionalities imposed by the IMF, Malaysia enjoyed the freedom to prescribe its own recovery plans, hence avoiding some of the problems associated with the IMF rescue packages. This has motivated the paper to examine what lessons can be drawn from Malaysia's and South Korea's experience with bank restructuring in the wake of the 1997 financial crisis. Most importantly, the preceding study of the circumstances prior to the introduction of the bank restructuring measures as well as the specific nature of the measures and their apparent consequences suggest caution in making gross generalizations. Instead, their different experience urges greater attention to context and detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I discuss Korean society's response to foreign migrant workers. The employers, workers, trade unions, civil organizations and individual citizens have met and known them as employees, fellow workers, and neighbors since 1987. The Employment Permit Program for foreigners, the government's new foreign labor policy since 2004 is understood as a product achieved by a decade of interaction between Korean citizens and foreign migrant workers. This paper examines the Korean citizen's responses' impacts on the government's foreign labor policy from 1987 to 2005. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, South Korea were going through democratic chages while North Korea has also experienced moderate political opening. Major focus in this research is on whether and to what extent those domestic political change could impact on the inter-Korean relations. It would also take into considerations the surrounding atmospheres in the Northeast Asia, especially led by U.S, China, Japan, and the Russia. In short, this paper attempts to examine the prospects for the North-South Korean relation in terms of domestic poltical changes and change of international politics surrounding the Peninsula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

U.S. military alliances with Japan and South Korea have been the mainstay of US security interests and the region’s security balance for much of the second decade of the 20th century. On the one hand, U.S. hegemony kept forces of Japanese militarization at bay while on the other, it sustained military authoritarian rule of South Korea. In recent years, we are seeing a dramatic shift in alliance relations due to international, regional and domestic changes in the region. The paper addresses three aspects of these changes: 1) a new ‘requirement’ for Asian allies’ moral and rhetorical support of U.S. militarism, even if their own publics are opposed (e.g., US war in Afghanistan and Iraq); 2) reinvogoration of Japanese nationalism and militarization; 3) the growth of Korean nationalism and anti-militarism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing literature surveys how democracy changes the government?s spending priorities in Latin America. This paper extends study to the Asian-Newly Industrialized Countries (NICs) to evaluate how specific democratic procedures ? elections and legislative fragmentation ? affect military and civilian allocations. It also considers how the sequence and rules of the budgetary process affect results. The analyses of government spending in South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore from the 1960s to 2000 reveal two important findings. First, the budgetary process significantly influences how the effects of elections and legislative fragmentation are manifested; indeed, the effects of elections and legislative fragmentation on the government?s spending priorities are clear and robust only when the sequence and rules of budget making are modeled. Second, democracy does not affect government spending separately from elections and legislative fragmentation in South Korea and Taiwan ? it has a distinct effect only on spending in Singapore. These findings add nuances and new perspectives to the study of democracy?s effects on the government?s military and civilian allocations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically evaluates the prevalent view that a free trade agreement (FTA) between Seoul and Washington would markedly strengthen their security alliance. For that purpose, we examine the impact of economic ties on U.S. alliances with Australia, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, as well as South Korea, over the past quarter-century, while drawing relevant insights from the theoretical literature on international commerce and alliance cohesion. The research finds that the conventional wisdom has questionable theoretical and empirical foundations. There are several logical reasons for rejecting the prevalent view. First, the FTA would not markedly increase mutual dependence between the U.S. and Korean economies. Second, expanding economic ties with potential adversaries such as North Korea and China may cancel out any marginal alliance-enhancing effect of the agreement. Third, the FTA could adversely affect the vested interests of influential societal actors, which might blame their economic losses on the alliance and turn against it. Fourth, the alliance could become more asymmetrical and further lose its public appeal. Also, the empirical analysis shows no clear positive association between the level of economic interdependence and the strength of alliances. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Korea is one of the few countries that are making a transition from a "limited access order" to an "open access order." This paper explores how the transition has taken place and what has made this transition possible, comparing South Korean experience with those of Taiwan and the Philippines. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigates South Korea’s corporate sector reforms after the 1997 financial crisis. Over the last three decades, under the guidance of the government’s export-led developmental strategy, the chaebol, big business conglomerates, highly contributed to rapid economic growth. However, the failure of corporate governance of the chaebol, which contains highly indebted financial structures, lack of accounting transparency, and over-investment in similar business areas, drove the country to financial crisis. During the decade since the financial crisis, the Korean government introduced a broad corporate reform that bans intra-group transaction, imposes a reduction of debt-equity ratio, and regulates the chaebol’s oligopoly by transforming its economy to a free-market system. Yet, the chaebol, which grew up as the largest interest group, sometimes resisted the government’s economic reforms to secure their parochial interests. This research examines corporate governance from the power struggle between the government and chaebol, and evaluates the current status of reform. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Korea is Japan’s most natural ally in East Asia. Both nations share the same primary military benefactor, the United States. Their geographic proximity makes them natural allies in offsetting China’s growing power and unknown intentions. In spite of this natural need to ally, relations remain strained primarily over Japan’s historical occupation of Korea. This paper examines the political issues that need to be resolved in order for Japan and South Korea to work together and the potential for such reconciliation in light of South Korea’s drift away from its American ally and Japan’s open embrace of the United States. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the political economy of market reforms in Korea since the 1997/98 financial crisis. We focus on the political and fiscal capacity of the state to implement these reforms, and challenge the view that successfully implemented market reforms follow a technocratic "best practice" approach. On the contrary, we argue that reforms in Korea were relatively successful because they were political projects, and join the ranks of those who challenge the view that market reforms equal less state interventions. We show that market reforms in Korea went hand in hand with an expansion of the state. The formation of interest coalitions constituted the reform machinery while government expenditures have been the grease to make the machinery run smoother and prevent it from breaking. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a conference paper titled "Korean Chinese migrant workers and the politics of Korean nationalism" prepared for the "2005 ISA Annual Convention" in Honolulu, Hawaii. It discusses the nature of the Korean nationalism that has played as the sole legitimacy of the Korean state. It argues that the dominating perspective viewing Korean Chinese as migration workers has underestimated the nationalistic discourses as a real political force in the political landscape.

The article presents a draft conference paper titled "The Trek of Foreign Workers to Be Others in South Korea" for the "2005 ISA Annual Convention" in Honolulu, Hawaii. It discusses the reasons behind an increase in the number of foreign workers in South Korea and how are their labor conditions. It shows a comparison of the average wages and working hours of foreign trainees and workers in the country for 2001.

US, South Korean, and Japanese interests in coping with North Korea’s nuclear agenda overlap, but there also are substantial differences. Each country’s policies shall be assessed in terms of its bilateral objectives versus North Korea. Based on that assessment, the historical record of trilateral cooperation vis-à-vis North Korea and the prospects for future cooperation shall be evaluated. In addition, North Korea’s responses to each category and its options shall be analyzed. In each of these instances salient domestic and international factors shall be taken into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of the presentation is to raise de question of the transformation of roles and actions of a minority in South Korea, the South Korean elite members originating from the North (ibuk ch'ulsin), when the Lee Myung-Back administration has changed the South-Korean policy toward North-Korea since the end of 2007. During the 10 years of the progressive « sunshine policy » some progress were made at the level of economic exchanges and joint projects like Kûmgang-san touristic project or at the special economical zone in Kaesông area. At that time, some of the South Korean elite members originating from the North have been very active in the process. The best example to quote is the role of the Hyundai group family. However, this particular minority group who came from the North before the end of the Korean war in 1953, has a very critical position in the South between two extremes : their support given to the Conservative camp with their fear of the Communists from the 1960's, as well as the fear to be considered as spies from the North in the South, and some hope to help the North to change, or even hope of return. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this information-oriented society, there are new political participations such as electronic polls and political party activities through Internet unlike past. People could express their opinions and thoughts freely in cyber space with rapid growth of Internet penetration and spread. So, they can state their views and make their heard in various parts; politics, economy, society and culture. These kinds of activism have been increasing more and more since starting 21st century. Moreover, it affects not only domestic matters, but also international matters. This study focuses on political participation in cyber space, specifically, cyber protest. It is sometimes overactive or damages counterpart seriously. Is it another form of civil society?s reaction or is it just irrational and thoughtless activities based on anonymity and freedom in cyber space?. To solve this question, first, I research the relations among civil society, social movement and democratic consolidation. Then, I apply the theories in cyber space. Doing this work, I examine the character of cyber space, distinct features of individual, group and civil society and their collective action. After that, I try to analyze if the collective action in cyber space could be a social movement and is helpful to the development of E-democracy as an alternative of representational democracy by exemplifying the case of Korea?s cyber protest toward Japan from 2001 to 2010. Finally, I insist that erstwhile cyber protest doesn?t enough to say a new form of social movements yet, despite of its contribution to the ways and transition beyond offline collective action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a recent globalization index South Korea continued its slide down the ranking. This must be contrasted to the fact that the Republic of Korea is unique in that it is one of very few countries in world which a decade ago actually set out, through a ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While economic effects of bilateral Free Trade Agreements (FTA) in the economic theory have remained ambiguous since the Vinerian concepts of trade creation and trade diversion, Free Trade Agreements in world trade relations have been proliferating especially over the last 10 years. Influenced by this intensifying process the European Union (EU) and the Republic of Korea (Korea) have currently started to approach a more forceful bilateral trade policy strategy. Within their bilateral approach, the EU and Korea, meanwhile mutually important trading partners, recognized each other as a preferential FTA partner, and negotiations about a common agreement have started in May 2007. Within the consideration and evaluation phase, a European and a Korean study on economic effects of a potential EU-Korea FTA were conducted separately. Both studies applied Computerable Generalized Equilibrium (CGE) models, which are computer based simulations based on a microeconomic framework. CGE models are a common instrument of trade policy analysis and provide herewith some ground for policy evaluation and decision. On closer examination and comparison of the CGE models implemented by the European and Korean study, it shows that the conducted results representing the economic effects of a FTA have to be interpreted cautiously. First, the reality of comprehensive FTAs, their special features and the complex system of overlapping FTAs is barely or not incorporated in the model structure. Second, different model structures and different key parameters implemented in the model, lead to different or even contradictory outcomes among both studies. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structure of the traditional East Asian system has been regarded as hierarchic by a number of scholars. Based on a case study of Sino-Korean relations during the early Ming dynasty (1368-1424), I argue that this is a dubious interpration. In fact, China failed to create authority over Korea. Korea adopted various strategies to deal with a preponderant China. The structure is best characterized as an attenuated anarchy. I also offer an interpretation of the Sino-Korean tribute system. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Northeast Asian countries, which consist of a former socialist (China) and two capitalist (South Korea and Japan) countries with large populations, have become the fast－growing economies. They have shown relatively high levels of corruption situation in comparison with their economic influences in world economy. Specially, China is facing a serious corruption problem which prevents politico－economic development and social consensus in the long run.Recently, the hypothesis that a market－oriented democracy is the best model for economic development is accepted among many scholars. It suggests that the strategies for economic growth should be based on market principles and political democratization in the long term. From the perception that market－oriented democracy is the best solution for economic development, people in Northeast Asian countries recognize that state intervention, which undermines a self－regulating market, should be minimized in the economic sectors, and bureaucratic corruption that hinders socio－cultural progress should be eliminated in every sphere of society.Market－democracy advocates argue that the fundamental causes of Northeast Asian countries corruption originate from the immaturity of political democratization. They propose the formation of Northeast Asian anti－corruption regime as a desirable instrument of improving their corruption levels. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Northeast Asia is often regarded as having an uneasy atmosphere, with tensions between the countries making the region sometimes look unpeaceful. North Korean arms tests and other aggressive gestures also contribute to this view, as well as tensions between Taiwan and the People's Republic of China. My study tries to look closer at the development of the relations between the most important states in the region, China, Japan and South Korea, assuming that the above-mentioned conflicts are not dominating the relations between the three countries. The study tries to assess changes in the triadic and dyadic relations which don not get as much attention as the conflicts, but will also have an impact on the future relations in the region.These changes are studied by using the concept of Security Community that has been first developed by Karl W. Deutsch and later been elaborated by Emanuel Adler and Michael Barnett. The larger goal of my study is to examine the long term stability of the peace between the three countries. A pluralistic Security Community is defined as a community of states having "dependable expectations of peaceful change". Whilst Deutsch developed the concept of the Security Community with reference to the North Atlantic region, Adler and Barnett and Amitav Acharya expanded the scope of the concept to other regions in the world. They also based it on constructivist ideas, giving it more theoretical rigidity, and added the idea of a development pattern with different stages in building a Security Community from nascent to mature. This now allows to study Security Communities that have not fully developed yet, such as in Northeast Asia. Following this concept, the key factors in the development of a Security Community are transactions, norms and institutions. In my work I study the changing relations of the three countries by looking at changes in these factors in different issue areas, with special focus on the development in the maritime domain, which seems to display a case of change towards closer co-operation. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In December 2004 a multi-year effort at developing plausible alternative international futures culminated in the NIC publication, Mapping the Global Future. A key component of these efforts was the use of a computational global model to generate quantitative political-economic implications for a variety of alternative futures. The model used was International Futures (IFs), developed by Barry Hughes and supported in part by the CIA Strategic Assessment Group. My research reported here adds to these uses of the IFs model in three ways. First, I extend the analysis of the 2020 Project version of IFs to East Asia by examining regional implications of the baseline projections for multilateral relations. I use the contemporary Korean peninsula situation as an exemplar and conclude that changes in East Asian and USA economic and political developments have created new options for Korean reunification likely to benefit all concerned. Second, I demonstrate how IFs can be used to examine development issues within nations for local economic development purposes, using an earlier version of IFs and Hawaii as an exemplar. I conclude that demographic and trade impacts on Hawaii have significant implications for mass transit, labor movements, education, and elder care facilities. Third, I explore some impacts that the use of IFs is likely to have on several facets of politics: political philosophical, applied political-economics, and political science as a profession. I conclude that a major shift in thought and research is likely, moving towards a synergistic paradigm that integrates the three great paradigms of our profession, science, philosophy, and application. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a study that attempts to understand American military posture in East Asia within the context of a U.S.-Japan-China-South Korea-Taiwan pyramid, where the U.S. plays the role of benign leader at the apex. It explores some military arrangements contemplated by the U.S. It examines five official documents made to the public since the inauguration of U.S. President George W. Bush including the "Quadrennial Defense Review Report."

The article emphasizes the significance of military consideration compared to political motivations, particularly by the changes in South Korean politics. Korea and the U.S. decided in October 2004 to reduce the United States Forces in Korea (USFK) to 12,500 by the year 2008. One of the characteristics which can be found in publications of South Koreans is that people understand that the USFK reduction and repositioning is a part of the U.S. policy of Global Defense Posture Review (GPR). An overview of the original mission of the USFK is also provided.

The article examines the impact of the readjustment of the U.S. Forces in Korea (USFK) on the Republic of Korea (ROK)-U.S. alliance. It explains the changes in South Korean's consciousness toward the alliance and North Korea. It cites that the readjustment of USFK results from the Global Defense Posture Review (GPR) and military transformation which aim to secure strategic flexibility in Northeast Asia. The author concludes that the ROK-U.S. alliance will depend on the decision of both allies to develop a strategic harmony based on common interests.

The article discusses the nature and sources of the dispute between the U.S. and the Republic of Korea (ROK) or South Korea. It explores the U.S.-ROK political relationship with emphasis on the leadership of U.S. President George W. Bush. It provides an overview of the salient issues in bilateral relations between the two countries. The author describes the approaches by Roh Moo-Hyun of the New Millennium Party and Bush to the nuclear issues in North Korea.

The article explores the foreign policy of Mexico, Germany and South Korea after the Iraq War. The three nations represent the most significant U.S.-allies in the geopolitical stage on each continent. It recalls the history of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the change of international politics until the war. Factors that will help to outline the structure of the relations of the three countries with the U.S. are listed, including foreign political objectives and tools.

Whilst the issue of changes in the developmental states after the East Asian financial crisis has been hotly debated, there has been scant attention paid to explore the ways in which gender relations have been re/shaped in relation to re/making of the developmental state. It will be argued that the economic development strategies of South Korea has been re/configured with changes in the manners to employ gender relations into the industrial realignment. Herein the focus will be placed on examining how the changes in the role of post-crisis South Korean state have affected the ways in which gender relations has been interacting with the changing South Korean state. Firstly, the paper will look at the periodic features of gendered labour regimes which have been contingent upon the trajectories of economic development in South Korea. Secondly, it will investigate the ways in which women’s movements have evolved over the changes occurring in the process of industrial restructuring and democratisation in the late 1980s and 90s. Then, this leads to the scrupulous study of strategic transformation in the ways for women’s movement organisations to negotiate with the state by widening the scope to engage in the state apparatus. As such, this paper will attempt to demonstrate not only the highly gendered nature of the developmental state, but also the transformative aspects of gender relations over the transition of one nation-state’s economic development path. In so doing, it urges to incorporate a gender perspective into the discourse of the developmental state. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much has been written by scholars and pundits casting doubt over the future of the South Korea-US alliance with the end of the Cold War and the ensuing efforts by South Korea to foster cooperation and reconciliation with North Korea through its engagement policy. In fact, many experts have warned that, in order to maintain the alliance into the future, a new mission would have to replace the one that existed under the Cold War. Despite the intense attention that this issue has received, there has been no systematic effort to understand how the South Korean public views the alliance. The aim of this paper is twofold. First, it seeks to identify and analyze the factors affecting the public’s view of the alliance, using a face-to-face nationwide survey of South Koreans conducted in March 2007 under Fulbright sponsorship. It employs multiple regression analysis to test four core hypotheses, each focusing on a factor that is considered to have an impact on South Koreans’ perception of the alliance. They are: H1: The perception of North Korea as a threat increases the support for the alliance. H2: A positive view of the role of the USFK promotes the support of the alliance. H3: The belief that the US and South Korea share common interests regarding North Korea is associated with the support of the alliance. H4: A wariness of China promotes the support of the alliance. Second, on the basis of this analysis, this paper will also attempt to assess the long-term prospects for the alliance by examining how the evolving security situation in the Korean peninsula impinges on the factors identified in this study. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Just as the idea of 'global citizenship' has gained much visibility recently in public discourse throughout the English speaking world, the term also is increasingly invoked across East Asia, albeit mainly within elite circles. This paper narrows the focus to how 'global citizenship' discourse has emerged in South Korea. Through content analysis of media references to 'global citizenship' as well as interviews with representatives of various organizations that have incorporated the term into their respective agendas, this paper illustrates the many competing strains of thinking underlying 'global citizenship' discourse in South Korea. Most of all, the paper shows how the idea of 'global citizenship' is often employed in South Korea primarily in order to advance national goals and objectives, such as educational attainment, technological proficiency and competitiveness in the world economy; alongside moral visions related to peace, democracy, global responsibility and solidarity across cultures. In this regard, 'global citizenship' discourse in South Korea falls between idealism and pragmatism as well as between nationalism and cosmopolitanism. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]