• Author: Shin Jae Hyeok, Park Hee Kyung
• Publication : The Southeast Asian Review
• Publisher : Korean Association of Southeast Asian Studies
• Volume : 31(2)
• Date :  May 2021

Abstract: This paper aims to explain the major issues that have arisen in Indonesia during the year 2020 and analyze their impact on Indonesia’s politics and economy. The damage situation in Indonesia, when COVID-19 hit the world, was serious, and as a result, the people’s disappointment in the Jokowi government was also great. However, President Jokowi prioritized the economy, rather than curbing the spread of the epidemic with strong quarantine measures. He strengthened control over the media, opposition parties, and the people. He also passed an omnibus bill in October to promote investment. Workers started nationwide protests and strikes against the omnibus bill that will reduce protection and benefits for the workers. Local elections were held in December, and many children of incumbent politicians were elected. President Jokowi’s son and son-in-law also won mayoral elections. Meanwhile, Indonesia suffered an economic downturn despite the Jokowi administration’s policy of prioritizing the economy. However, compared to other neighboring countries, the magnitude of economic damage was not significant. In particular, from the second half of the year, foreign direct investment increased sharply.

• Author: Lee Shin-wha  , Park Jae Jeok
• Publication : Journal of International Area Studies
• Publisher : Center for International Area Studies
• Volume : 25(2)
• Date :  April 2021

Abstract: The U.S.-China relationship is exacerbating into an all-round competition as their zero-sum “frame competition” over global hegemonic influence. Both big powers put forward multilateralism, which originally aims at pursuing the common good of the international community, not individual national interests. But in reality, they are competing against each other to bring more countries to their side. Biden’s multilateralist strategy to restore the U.S.-led liberal international order(LIO) is exclusive to countries that do not participate in the multilateral democratic alliance as it aims for anti-China solidarity with democracies. China has been actively expanding its influence in multilateral organizations through financial and human contribution, but Chinese-style multilateralism is criticized for being a rhetoric to ignore international laws and norms and forcefully carry out its national interests.
As the U.S.-China hegemony competition is getting fierce, small and medium-sized countries are in a strategic dilemma of choosing between them. ‘Minilateral’ cooperation at the regional level is also likely to turn into a venue for a clash of geopolitical competitions between the U.S. and China rather than functioning as a mechanism that supports the LIO in the Indo-Pacific region. As a result, the middle power diplomacy (despite various limitations) is drawing attention. After all, the future of the U.S.-led LIO, challenged by China’s rise, the relative decline of U.S. hegemony, and the U.S.-China strategic competition, will depend on whether the U.S. has the ability and will to continue to provide global public goods, and whether the international community, centered on middle power countries in the region, will provide support or solidarity for U.S. leadership.

• Author : Doo-Jin Kim
• Journal : The Journal of International Relations
  
• Publisher : The East Asian Association of International Studies (EAAIS)
• Volume : Vol.24 No.1
• Date : 2021. 03

Abstract : Contrary to the assumption that the progress of globalization associated with de-territorialization would normally lead to the dilution of nationalism, it is frequently observed that nationalism tends to intensify through cyberspace. In particular, combined with “collective memory” over territorial, historical, and sociocultural issues, narratives of online spaces have allowed Korea and China to show severe inter-state emotional conflicts in comparison with other international societies, e.g. the EU. The “re-territorialization” of East Asian nationalism should be properly reinterpreted within the context of the “emotional regime.” The social sciences tend to have an emotional bias. Emotional narratives were viewed as aberrations and as unfortunate deviations from a rationalistic norm. Nationalist conflicts between Korea and China, which are usually hostile and uncompromising, are regarded as exceptional or pathological. Related to an ‘excess of memory’, the politicization of East Asian nationalism through cyberspace needs to be reconsidered by the variable of ’emotional rationality’ rather than conventionally viewed as an irrational deviation.

• Author : Gyu Jeong Yee
• Journal : The Journal of Asian Studies
  
• Publisher :The Korean Association Of Asian Studies(KAAS)
• Volume : Vol.24 No.1
• Date : 2021. 02

Abstract : This study aims to analyze the current situation and effectiveness of the candidate debate, focusing on the 21st general election, and to suggest policy improvement directions. In the 21st general election, the proportional representative general election candidate discussion meeting and the public office election policy debate were held three times each, and a total of 467 meetings were held for the regional congressional members election debate held in each region. The Candidate Debate is significant in that it is a low-cost, high-efficiency campaign tool, meets the demands of the times for policy elections, and is an official election process according to the Public Official Election Act. This study suggest three things for policy improvement of the Candidate Discussion Meeting. First, it is necessary to obligate party representative level personnel to attend the public office election policy discussion meeting. Second, it is necessary to find a way to secure universal viewing rights for voters. Third, there is a need to expand opportunities for political rookies to participate in the election broadcasting debate.

• Author : Su-jin Lee , Shin-wha Lee
• Publication : Journal of American studies
• Publisher : The American Studies Association of Korea
• Volume : 52(3)
• Date : December 2020

Abstract: President-elect Joe Biden will likely build upon Obama’s ‘leading-from-behind’ Doctrine. This paper attempts to understand whether the Biden administration will succeed, given that both the Democrats and Republicans criticized Obama’s Doctrine for eroding American exceptionalism. Prior to addressing the relationship between American exceptionalism and grand strategy, this paper identifies the defining characters of American exceptionalism and introduces the concept of ‘varieties of American exceptionalism.’ Second, this paper situates Obama’s Doctrine in the debate over U.S. grand strategy and asserts that Obama’s Doctrine promotes an evolving modus vivendi of American exceptionalism. By comparing Obama’s Doctrine with Biden’s election pledges, this paper concludes that Biden’s team can learn from Obama on how to navigate new American exceptionalism in the post-American world.

• Author : Gye-Won Jo
• Journal : Comparative Democratic Studies (CDS)
  
• Publisher : Inje Institute of Democracy and Autonomy
• Volume : Vol.16 No.2
• Date : 2020. 12

Abstract : The purpose of this study is to critically review the theoretical background of the village community projects that have recently been attracting attention as a new model of citizen politics. The village community projects are based on attempts to restore communities that have lost social ties and have been fragmented in social relationships based on the principle of participation, governance and autonomy. From the perspective of republican theory, three main arguments are presented while reviewing the village community project normatively. First, it is difficult to say that the increase of associations or the expansion of association networks lead to community building in itself. It is necessary to form civic friendship based on the norm of non-domination as a resource of social solidarity. Second, collaborative governance does not strengthen the democratic contestation of citizens if it do not raise the countervailing power within civil society. Because collaborative governance can work as an informal procedure that complements democratic legitimacy, the civic capacity to check public decisions and offer alternatives can be weakened. Third, rather than focusing on increasing participation itself, legal and institutional devices should be prepared to guarantee freedom as non-domination of citizens. It is primarily important to establish conditions of social equality so that citizens can interact with each other by looking at each other as equal beings. Furthermore, it is necessary to reduce social exclusion caused by socioeconomic inequality through various policies that can increase equality of access to public spheres.

• Author : Chi-Won, Choi
• Journal : Korean Political Science Review
  
• Publisher : The Korean Political Science Association
• Volume : Vol.54 No.5
• Date : 2020. 12

Abstract : First, the Structure of Weber’s thought is as multi-layered, divisive, and contradictory as the modern world he grasped. Second, if we understand “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” without considering Weber’s thoughts with these characteristics, we easily fall into the stereotype and prejudice that it is merely a pure academic work of a scholar. Third, the original text of Weber’s ‘The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism’ underwent several revisions. Thus the original text of 1904/05 and the text of 1919/20 have different meanings and purposes. Fourth, it seems that no one properly reads and grasps the meaning of the original text in the sense of multi-layered and contradictive Weber’s thought-structure: It is very important to understand the political motives contained in the original text as much as the academic motives of this work. Fifth, the background and intention of the birth of the original text, whose traces have been erased from the text of 1919/20, shows that it has written for a political education book rather than a pure academic research. In short, along with ‘Science as a Vocation’ and ‘Politics as a Vocation’, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism can be understood as political education book. If the former two works complete the political education work he declared in his inauguration speech, ‘Protestant Ethics and Capitalist Spirit’ is the starting work of this.

• Author : Chi-Won, Choi
• Journal : Zeitschrift der Koreanisch-Deutschen Gesellschaft fuer Sozialwissenschaften (ZdKDGS)
  
• Publisher : Koreanisch-Deutsche Gesellschaft Fuer Sozialwissenschaften(K-G Association For Social Sciences)
• Volume : Vol.30 No.4
• Date : 2020. 12

Abstract : There are two moments that shaped and characterized Weber’s life and thoughts. One was related to the special situation of his nation Germany, which faced the economic and political turning point, while the other was related to the universal existence of man. The former is embodied by the opinion from Weber as politician, and the latter by that from Weber as scholar. This duality, characterized by opposition and responsiveness, is first imprinted in his inaugural speech(1895). The method of Marx and Nietzsche plays a decisive role in Weber’s stance. The presentation that binds Weber as scholar and as politician is ‘Nation.’ From this, ‘Nation’s Political Education,’ as the final goal of science, emerges as an important immediate task. In ‘political education,’ science and politics meet each other. Its core is not related to the realization of the ‘ethical’, but of the clarification the ‘political’, restoring the true state of politics. In its primary sense, ‘political education’ is a means of overcoming Bismarck’s negative legacy and contributing to inner reunification of nation; in its broadest sense, it becomes a means of contributing to the formation of ‘political maturity’ (and therefore of ‘political judgment’ and ‘political will’). Therefore, this means is based on ‘freedom’, not force, and in this sense it is not merely a theory, but an essential presupposition of human practice. Weber’s idea, reflecting the special situation of the German ‘nation,’ has a universal value in this respect.

• Author : Sung Eun Kim & Krzysztof J Pelc
• Journal : International Studies Quarterly
  
• Publisher : Oxford University Press
• Volume : Online First
• Date : 2020. 12

Abstract : Dealing with the distributional consequences of trade liberalization has become one of the key challenges facing developed democracies. Governments have created compensation programs to ease labor market adjustment, but these resources tend to be distributed highly unevenly. What accounts for the variation? Looking at the largest trade adjustment program in existence, the US’ Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA), we argue that petitions for compensation are largely driven by legislative attitudes. When legislators express negative views of TAA, individuals in their districts become less likely to petition for, and receive, compensation. This effect is especially pronounced in Republican districts. An underprovision of TAA, in turn, renders individuals more likely to demand other forms of government support, like in-kind medical benefits. We use roll-call votes, bill sponsorships, and floor speeches to measure elite attitudes, and we proxy for the demand for trade adjustment using economic shocks from Chinese import competition. In sum, we show how the individual beliefs of political elites can be self-fulfilling.

• Author : Hong-kyu Park
• Journal : 日本思想
• Publisher : Korean Association For Japanese Thought
• Volume : 39
• Date : 2020.12
• Abstract : After the defeat of Japan and the liberation of Korea in 1945, Korea-Japan relations have been gradually developed by the political action of political leaders for historical reconciliation, and Korea and Japan relations will continue to be renewed through another historical reconciliation. The first historical reconciliation was the normalization of diplomatic relations under the Korea-Japan Claims Agreement of 1965, and the second historical reconciliation was the Partnership Declaration of 1998. I call the former “Korea-Japan Reconciliation 1.0”, the latter “Korea-Japan Reconciliation 2.0”, and the third historical reconciliation in the future “Korea-Japan Reconciliation 3.0”. This treatise outlines the process of historical reconciliation between Korea and Japan since its liberation in 1945. Focusing on the time when the gradual transformation took place, I will deal with the philosophical foundations that underpin the historical reconciliation of each stage. What should be noted here is that from 1945 to the present, the philosophical foundation of historical reconciliation between Korea and Japan was “responsible reconciliation,” and political leader to implement Korea-Japan Reconciliation 3.0 in the future is required to have a new philosophical foundation called “inclusive reconciliation.”