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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]

In East Asia, international politics is so intense based on the political division among nations. Korea is divided to North and South, China is politically divided, and Mongolian people live in part of China as inner Mongolia and outer Mongolia itself. The divided East Asia had long been categorized as non-democratic region, but after World War II, the U.S. occupation democratized Japan, and it became a fortress of democratization in the region in the following years in spite of the development of Cold War in East Asia. In this paper, various democratic indices are discussed first to evaluate the historical background and social entities on developing democratic society in East Asia: the indices are from Freedom House, Polity IV Project, and Arthur Banks. Although these Indices could not tell every democratic aspect of each society, but they are at least considered as a guidepost to take a close look at democratic transformation of East Asia. Secondly, the logit model on religious diversity is tested with socio-economic indices and democracy index. The result shows that Buddhism is not related with democracy significantly negatively nor positively. This indicates that democratization in East Asia holds East Asian religious culture would not directly confront the development of democratic politics and society. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

East Asia anticipates two important political transitions: Chinese democratization, and Korean unification under a democratic regime. This paper draws upon international relations theory in order to shed light on the effects of these transitions on regional stability. Whereas democratization and war theory would expect instability, theories of economic interdependence predict the opposite. This article tests these theories in the cases of three democratizing states: Malaysia, Taiwan, and South Korea. Like the future cases, these countries were pursuing export-led growth strategies, and faced potentially high costs from bellicose behavior. Although war did not occur in any of these cases, I test for lesser increases in hostility. Through process tracing, I also test for the occurrence of the theories’ expected mechanisms: nationalism and “logrolling” by political coalitions, orâ€"converselyâ€"pressure from the business community for foreign policy restraint. I find little evidence that supports the democratization and war thesis; instead, evidence from all three cases supports the theory of economic interdependence and peace. The study thus contributes to two prominent literatures within international relations theory. It provides a valuable test of largely quantitative literatures that have focused on demonstrating correlation, instead of substantiating their causal claims through process tracing. It argues for greater specification of the conditions under which democratic transitions will promote international instability. Findings from this study also provide support for foreign policy strategies of engagement, and suggest optimism for the stability of the future Korean and Chinese transitions. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information technology (IT) is frequently presumed to be a mobilizing force behind democratization. However, some studies (Kalathil and Boas, 2003) have shown that IT can also be used by governments to consolidate control over their citizens. This research compares the impact of information technology on civil society in China and South Korea. IT has empowered individuals and groups in both countries by providing opportunities to access various information and perspectives. However, there are major differences between these two countries: first, regarding the issues people raise in online communities; and second, regarding the way online and offline communities interact. In China, it is prohibited to raise or debate any political issues online. Chinese leaders attempt to control every facet of the Internet through two main strategies; filtering material and promoting self-censorship through regulation, policing and punitive action. Consequently, most of the online communities that deal with anti-government, democracy, and individual rights have not been connected to offline rallies or gatherings. In contrast, in South Korea, people have no restrictions on raising issues, such as criticizing government policies, laws, and political leaders, even the president, online. During the past five years, South Korea has experienced the power of netizens in general and presidential elections and even support of the Korean team in the 2002World Cup. Most of these activities have been organized in two ways: (1) From Online to Offline; and (2) From Offline to Online. The contrast between the two countries provides an opportunity to demonstrate that while information technology can foster the decentralization of power over information from government to non-governmental actors, it can also facilitate the development of networks that can enhance government surveillance and insert new control mechanisms, by virtue of how they are constructed. This research is constructed around concrete cases showing various online activities in China and South Korea. In order to understand the process and context by which events and actions take place in both countries, the analysis of these cases is based on a combination of in-country interviews, primary and secondary literature, and an examination of online materials such as diverse online forums and organizations. In doing so, this paper attempts to answer four questions: Have IT helped citizens to gather more information and to have more opportunity to participate in policy making or government affairs?; Have the government (regulation) policies of each countryinfluenced the way people use IT?; Are the effects different between China and South Korea? If they are different, where have the differences come from? ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I analyze the nexus between economic crises, market oriented reforms, and democratization in Indonesia and Korea since the 1997/98 Asian financial crisis. I provide some support for the hypothesis that democracies are better able to survive economic crises than authoritarian regimes. In both countries democratization facilitated a crisis resolution strategy based on market oriented reforms. However, I assert that in the long run the social consequences of market-oriented reforms tend to undermine democratization partly because both are so closely linked and the majority of the population sees them as one. This process does not necessarily destroy democracies but it leaves them more vulnerable to possible external shocks in the future. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [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]

Political life in modern Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan is traditionally characterized by a strong central government, influential economic elites, and a relatively homogeneous society. In such settings we would not expect to find much local democratic innovation, but the case of foreign workers in these countries challenges this assessment. Relatively unskilled foreign workers in present-day East Asia face a range of hardships, and existing governments? programs provide little support. Media portrayals of illegal workers ? as in several other industrialized democracies ? reinforce popular suspicion and fear of these foreigners. Yet, host countries? citizens themselves have formed numerous local associations aimed at assisting illegal foreign workers. I evaluate this trend in light of a pragmatic account of political motivation: associative activism. My account makes explicit the process through which some activists, who initially work in concert chiefly to solve specific local problems, eventually form broader political ambitions as they exert pressure on dominant features of the public sphere, especially processes of political representation and opinion formation. These associative efforts illustrate how civil society groups in East Asian countries can play an increasing role in redefining membership rules and state responsibilities for their residents. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the past three decades, more and more states have experienced democratic transition and are increasingly facing the issue of transitional justice ? a question of how to seek to address gross and systemic human rights violations committed by past regimes. Among 90 countries that experienced democratic transition, 35 countries have adopted truth commissions between 1974 and 2004. Truth commission which is a policy option containing an international norm of transitional justice and human rights is increasingly and steadily adopted by governments worldwide. Students of constructivism are interested in understanding how international norms influence state behavior and norm diffusion is an essential element for their explanation. However, few studies focus and examine the actual process of norm diffusion. This study was designed to explain the global norm diffusion of a truth commission. By examining previous studies and my cross-national statistical analysis of 90 countries between 1974 and 2004, I learned that regional precedents, domestic groups, international involvement, and culture have an important influence on truth commission adoption. I explored this further in this research by looking at a very specific case of South Korea. During 1948 and 1954, communist-led uprising in Jeju Island and subsequent suppression by ultra anti-communist government led to a massacre of 15,000 civilians. Tragic incident has been hidden under anti-communist regime for about 50 years until the enactment of the special law in year 2000 by democratized regime. I examined the process of adopting truth commissions in Korea by different phases focusing on the actor, process, motive, and result in each phases. I also examined the working or truth commissions and the cause and impact of adopting truth commissions. The methods I applied is archival research as well as in-depth interviews with government officials, activists, journalist, and victims. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of organised labour as expression of dissent or social resistance to neoliberal economic globalisation has attracted increasing scholarly interest. It has been argued that with the end of the Cold War and of the constraints it placed on international labour solidarity, there has emerged an environment in which organised labour is better positioned to overcome the tradition of bureaucratic national unionism and transform itself into a more internationally-oriented ?social movement unionism.? These trends are by no means limited to the global North, and indeed, writers often make reference to newly industrialising countries in the global South, such as South Korea, South Africa, and Brazil, thus making it possible to talk of labour as a part of a ?global civil society.? By examining the case of the South Korean labour movement, however, I argue that such analysis as above focuses on only one aspect of the labour movement at the expense of its larger historical context. The experience of the Korean labour movement is in fact diametrically opposed to the social movement union hypothesis. There is good reason to believe that this is not simply because of unique characteristics of the Korean case, but rather is intimately related to Korea?s status as a both a newly industrialising and a newly democratising country. Since the 1980s, the Korean labour movement has undergone a transformation from a militant and almost revolutionary movement, to being bureaucratised and co-opted into the hegemonic political system. This has been due to the seemingly contradictory but in reality often complementary processes of neoliberal globalisation and democratisation that many countries of the South have recently experienced. Despite the labour movement?s discourse of opposition neoliberal restructuring, new hegemonic ideologies of democracy, international competitiveness amidst globalisation, and particularly of ?civil society? as a legitimate sphere of action have acted to co-opt the labour movement and weaken its resistance to restructuring. Furthermore, neoliberal restructuring has accelerated since the financial crisis, and this has contributed towards increased workers? insecurity and has made resistance to neoliberal restructuring even more problematic. This insecurity has led labour to seek a role as responsible partner to government and business in pseudo-social corporatism forums, despite the fact the striking thing about Korean industrial relations is the absolute absence of prerequisites for such a system of social agreement politics. It is my hypothesis therefore that whilst global neoliberal restructuring may have a homogenising effect on national economies, we cannot assume that there will be homogenous form of social or labour resistance in the form of a ?global civil society? without considering the specific historical contexts of national labour or social movements. In the global North, labour movements may have clearly perceived neoliberalism as an attack on the status of organised labour. In the global South, however, the Korean case suggests that the simultaneous processes of democratisation and neoliberal restructuring have been a complex mixture of crisis and opportunity that has made the assumption of unified resistance to globalisation more problematic. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]