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Globally, several governments have adopted various forms of green stimulus policies (GSP) to manage environmental challenges and revitalize their national economies during crises. However, research on the varieties of GSPs within a country and the possible drivers of this diversity remain scarce. This study qualitatively compares the green growth and green new deal policies adopted under two different administrations in South Korea. Although both GSPs share similar components, they vary in their focus on nuclear energy and international cooperation. This study postulates that these differences are associated with the degree to which each administration saw GSP through the lens of a developmental state. Besides providing a comparative tool for examining GSPs and their elements, this research contributes to GSP research in a non-Western developed-country setting by highlighting how domestic factors shape the nature and composition of GSPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several countries have pursued nuclear programs for various reasons, including energy security, environmental benefits, and technological progress. China is no exception, having pursued civilian nuclear programs since the 1970s. Existing studies depict China's nuclear policymaking as a contested bureaucratic struggle based on fragmented authoritarianism. This study, however, reveals an increasingly centralizing tendency in China's nuclear policymaking since the mid‐2000s. The central government has begun to undergird China's transition to an exporting country of nuclear technology through many policy instruments, seeing its technology as a global brand. China's accelerated promotion of the nuclear sector based on such centralization contrasts with its neighboring governments' shift away from the top–down, government‐dominant mode of policymaking to a more pluralistic and deliberative one in the post‐Fukushima era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between the length of tenure of elected heads of local governments (HOLG) and performance of local governments remains ambiguous, with few empirical studies on it. Korea presents a compelling case in that it has limited HOLG to serve only three consecutive terms based on the untested belief that longer tenures have a negative effect on local governments. To address these gaps, this study applies the fixed effect panel model, using the Korean government data from 2008 to 2014. Our findings reveal a negative relationship between tenure length and efficiency, particularly among local governments demonstrating a low level of efficiency. The relationship between the length of tenure and integrity is also negative, especially among local governments with low levels of integrity. However, given that these relationships disappear when factors specific to local governments are controlled, our findings should be interpreted cautiously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The year 2016 seemed to mark a critical juncture in China’s non-profit sector as the government passed several laws and regulations, including the Charity Law. This study examines this development as part of the historical evolution of legal regimes governing NGOs, and considers the contexts of these recent legal changes. By doing so, this paper aims to infer the implications for the governance of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in China. Compared to previous laws and regulations, those introduced by Xi Jinping’s administration suggest the party-state’s heightened willingness to acknowledge the numerical growth and diversification of NGOs and their contributions to Chinese society. However, the new laws and regulations also indicate the government’s willingness to adopt a more explicit divide-and-rule approach to NGOs. On the one hand, the government aims to actively incorporate those NGOs that it considers useful and innocuous into an increasingly institutionalized system of social governance and rule of law. On the other, the government is likely to apply the policy of outright rejection and repression to those it identifies as threatening the party-state’s authority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transboundary rivers have remained one of the sources of contention and cooperation among states in international politics. The Mekong is one such river along which China and five Southeast Asian countries have organized their political, economic, and social lives. Studies examining the water politics of this river have argued that the lack of a comprehensive institution to govern this regional common pool resource and the growing power asymmetry between China, an upstream riparian state, and its Southeast Asian neighbors dampen the prospect for an effective governance of the river. Particularly, the economic rise of China and its concomitant increase in demand for energy and water resources has raised concerns about the negative impacts that this would have on the downstream countries. Examination of recent developments regarding the Mekong River suggests, however, that China has adopted a more collaborative approach by engaging in joint development projects and exchanging information and technology via existing sub-regional and regional multilateral bodies since the early 2000s. The study concludes that this growing evidence of cooperation should be taken into consideration for a more comprehensive understanding of China's policy towards the Mekong River. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After a brief introduction of the existing literature on environmental pioneer states and their internal characteristics, this study examines various low-carbon green growth (LCGG) initiatives that the South Korean government introduced to market Korea as a trendsetter in the global environmental arena. The country's domestic foundations for environmental innovation, however, reveals a dissonance between its international aspirations and the internal conditions that are needed to sustain the pursuit. This case of mixed environmental achievements by a rising middle-power state suggests the insufficiency of a state-led approach to environmental innovation and leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The impacts that governments and institutions have on environmental policy-making constitute a core concern in environmental politics. Authoritarian environmentalism (AE) presents a model of top-down, non-participatory environmental policy-making. The model, however, remains underspecified with its premises untested and its application confined to non-democratic countries. This study addresses these gaps through a case study of South Korea’s Four Major Rivers Restoration Project. The study illustrates how various path-dependent legacies from the era of the authoritarian developmental state shaped the policy context in which policymakers in democratic Korea adopted AE as its approach to environmental governance. More broadly, this case demonstrates how the relationship between a type of regime and its mode of policy-making and policy outcomes is tenuous, suggesting that environmental politics should move beyond the examination of formal institutional features to incorporate various state development trajectories to unravel the nature of their environmental politics and policy-making. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article employs the advocacy coalition framework (ACF), a set of concepts developed to account for policymaking primarily in the United States, to analyze factors that led China to downsize its latest big hydropower project, on the Nu River. The ACF helps us identify two conflicting coalitions based on their policy beliefs and the resources they mobilized to translate their beliefs into policy change, which the ACF also helps us explain. Conflict between state agencies contributed to the rise of a societally based environmental coalition to oppose a state-centered development coalition, and struggle and strategic learning between these coalitions led to interventions by the premier and a scaling down of the project from 13 dams to four. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Galvanized by Greta Thunberg's idea for Friday school strikes, "climate strikes" emerged in 2018 and 2019 as a form of youth social movement demanding far-reaching action on climate change. Youths have taken various actions to combat climate change, but academics have not paid sufficient attention to youth climate mobilization. This study thus examines the questions of what has motivated youth to mobilize and how they have shaped global climate politics and governance. This study focuses particularly on the narrative of youth activists to address their understanding of climate change and their ideas regarding how to respond to it. Youth collective action has succeeded in problematizing global climate inaction and inertia and in framing climate change from a justice perspective, but activists have faced limitations in converting their moral legitimacy into the power required for sweeping changes. Overall, this study demonstrates the emergence of young people as agents of change in the global climate change arena and the urgency of engaging them in climate change governance and policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excessive sugar consumption provides energy but has little nutritional value, contributing to the prevalence of obesity. Hence, "sugar-free" products using artificial or natural sweeteners, including sugar alcohols, have become popular. Accordingly, safety concerns and curiosity have arisen. Therefore, this study used a double-blind, crossover design to compare the effects of commercial sugar-free and sugar jellies (control) on the glycemic response in 16 adults without diabetes. Blood samples were collected to measure blood glucose, insulin, glucagon, ghrelin, C-peptide, glycated hemoglobin, and glycated albumin levels, and an oral glucose tolerance test was performed. Questionnaires on satiety and intestinal health were also administered. Sugar-free jellies resulted in significantly lower glucose and insulin levels and a reduced area under the curve while showing higher glucagon levels than the controls. Moreover, the sugar-free jelly initially resulted in the greater secretion of ghrelin; however, after 2 h, the control jelly resulted in higher ghrelin. No significant differences were observed in gut quotient, C-peptide, glycated hemoglobin, and glycated albumin levels. In conclusion, substituting sugar jelly with sugar-free jelly may induce lower blood glucose and insulin levels and higher glucagon levels, indicating a better ability to control glucose metabolism. Appetite was not stimulated by sugar-free jelly consumption.