• Author : Shin-wha Lee
• Journal : Journal of International and Area Studies
• Publisher : Institute of International Affairs, Seoul National University
• Volume : 24(1)
• Publication Date : June, 2017
• Abstract : This study aims to discuss characteristics and limits of Korea’s human security-oriented policies in global and regional dimensions as a core tool of identifying itself middle power country. Having recognized a ‘global-regional divide’ in Korea’s positions and leverage, the paper argues that its middle power diplomacy should distinguish the global and regional levels in planning strategies. The paper also argues that it is more realistic for Korea to purse soft power to induce support and agreement from other states rather than hard power to muddle through regional power competition. Yet, given the possibility where its endeavor can be thwarted by its the regional dynamics of the great power politics, it is equally important for Korea to secure a sizable amount of hard power, like financial and military might. Taking the case of the human security diplomacy, which is a distinctive example of soft power strategies, the paper reviews what issues and challenges have been in Koreas quest for middle power leadership on the human security agenda, as well as to evaluate whether the country’s efforts positively or adversely affect its diplomatic status as a middle power. The cases of Canada, Australia, and Japan are examined so that we may draw a lesson for Korea’s middle power diplomacy. All three countries actively pursue soft power diplomacy, including the substantive contribution to human security agenda, for the sake of their international contribution and national interest. While Australia and Canada have achieved their expected objectives, Japan does not seem to have done so.

• Authors : Shin-wha Lee and Yangho Rhee
• Journal : Discourse 201
• Publisher : The Korean Association Socio-Historical Studies
• Volume : 20(2)
• Publication Date : May, 2017
• Abstract : Over the past decades, much scholarly and policy efforts have been made in order to seek the means of advancing and institutionalizing multilateral regional security cooperation in Northeast Asia. Yet, the region still lacks in a formal regional security cooperation entity. This paper intends not to discuss the widely-discussed achievements and limits of developing such an entity. Instead, the paper examines the background, processes, and impacts of the US-China rivalry in the field of multilateral regional security, both at the regional and global levels. Through this examination, the paper discusses how relatively weaker states in the region, including Korea, have been influenced by great powers` competition over multilateralism and what these small and middle powers could and should do to maintain their own leverage. Taking a lesson from ASEAN, which has developed its regional identity and influences through its `collective voices,` the paper argues that while Korea maintains a strong bilateral security alliance with the US, it should develop bi-multilateral mechanisms, minilateral cooperation systems, and other various multilateral approaches to effectively deal with regional security threats. Given limited national capacities compared to those of regional great powers, it would be wiser for Korea to focus on taking initiatives in the areas of soft power when pursuing multilateral security initiatives. However, such diplomatic efforts could be frustrated depending upon great power politics and changing geopolitical situations. Therefore, Korea should strengthen its comprehensive national power that incorporates military, economic, cultural, and other national merits.

• Author : Hun Joon Kim
• Journal : Journal of East and West Studies
  
• Publisher : Institute of East and West Studies, Yonsei University
• Volume : Vol.29. no.1.
• Date : 2017

Abstract : Indigenous affairs has been described as a ‘wicked policy issue’ in Australia and remains one of the most difficult policy issues. The legacies of British colonization continued in debates over the appropriate recognition of indigenous peoples in Australia’s Constitution. However, in 1967, a continued civil rights campaign by indigenous activists resulted in overwhelming support for a referendum granting indigenous population equal citizenship rights. The 1967 referendum was a watershed event in Australia’s indigenous affairs but it was only the beginning of a long struggle. It is the development and global diffusion of human rights and transitional justice, which influenced the significant changes in Australia’s indigenous policy. Since the 1990s, a decade of official reconciliation began and the debates over Australia’s history and national identity intensified. Later, the political focus had increasingly turned to more practical side of reconciliation by addressing socioeconomic disadvantage in indigenous communities. Using the norm life cycle theory and advocacy networks approaches, I argue that this significant policy change in Australia was caused by two interacting factors: first, the advocacy of civil rights activists and second, the diffusion of international human rights norms.

• Author : Jiil Kim
• Journal : The Quarterly Journal of Defense Policy Studies
• Publisher :  Korea Institute for Defense Analyses
• Volume : 115
• Publication Date : April, 2017
• Abstract : Park Jung-hee’s administration had pursued nuclear missile development despite strong opposition from the United States, so why did they decide to abandon nuclear weapons and devote solely to missiles? To answer this question, this study makes use of process tracing, while contributing to academic debate in two ways. First, this study reviews the historical evidence by adopting a new comprehensive approach, which breaks the tradition of viewing the development of nuclear weapons and missiles in the days of Park Jung-hee’s administration as two separate programs. Second, nuclear missile development during Park Jung-hee’s administration created a precedent when Korea abandoned the pursuit of nuclear weapons and went on to develop a missile within limits set by the United States, which produced a procedure for alleviation within the alliance.

• Author : Chi-won Choi
• Journal : Culture and Politics
• Publisher : Hanyang Peace Institute
• Volume : 4(1)
• Publication Date : March, 2017
• Abstract : The three countries of East Asia, Korea, China, and Japan, have existed on the basis of different forms of life called Confucianism, which is a unique view of human nature containing institutionalstructural logics of politics and society. A totally new system and value called democracy, however, has come into the East Asian mode of existence. The East Asian phenomenon, in which complex contradictoryaspects of political society appear, makes us inevitably ask what the democracy in East Asia is. This study, from a historicalphilosophical and cultural-political perspective, examines the question of what the democracy today means to us in the context of the “here [at the regional-spatial level] and now [at the temporal level].”

• Author : Jae Kwan Jung
• Journal : Korean Journal of Defense Analysis
• Publisher : Korea Institute for Defense Analyses
• Volume : 29(1)
• Publication Date : March, 2017
• Abstract : Under what conditions can democracy emerge and survive in countries emerging from violent civil conflicts? Using event history analysis, this article shows that the chance for democratization increases substantially by the combination of two factors: whether a civil war ends through peace negotiations and whether United Nations (UN) peacekeeping forces are deployed after the signing of a peace treaty. Negotiated settlements or UN peacekeeping operations alone cannot resolve the security dilemma and credible commitment problems of civil war adversaries, which are the main obstacles to the transition from war to peace and democracy. Yet these factors have little to do with sustaining democracy in the aftermath of civil war. What matters most for the survival of democracy is rapid economic recovery that can provide better opportunities for former combatants to be reintegrated into normal economic life. These findings suggest that for successful post-conflict democratization the international community should mediate peace negotiations actively and also make a strong effort to maintain peace while helping to reconstruct the war-torn economy.

• Author : Jae Hyeok Shin
• Journal : Party Politics
• Publisher : Sage Publishing
• Volume : 23(2)
• Publication Date : March, 2017
• Abstract : Most studies of candidate-centered electoral systems, that encourage politicians to seek personal votes, have focused on the impact of such institutions. This paper focuses instead on their origins in new democracies. It hypothesizes that voter demands for local and individual benefits and party access to government resources for such benefits are likely to lead politicians to choose a candidate-centered electoral rule during a transition to democracy. Cross-national quantitative studies of 97 new democracies from 1950 to 2008 support these claims, revealing that (1) the poorer the average voter, the more likely a candidate-centered electoral institution will be adopted and (2) where incumbent governing parties are more influential in selecting new rules, candidate-centered electoral systems are more likely to be selected. Nonetheless, (3) in highly developed countries even those governing party members tend to opt for a party-centered system; conversely, (4) in extremely less-developed countries even opposition politicians, who would otherwise select a party-centered electoral system, are likely to choose a candidate-centered system if they are dominant at the time of writing the new institution. These findings shed light on the endogeneity of electoral systems and suggest a powerful impact of social context on institutional choice. The paper also contributes more generally to theories of electoral system choice.

• Author : Hyeok Yong Kwon
• Journal : Korean Party Studies Review
• Publisher : The Korean Association of Party Studies
• Volume : 16(1)
• Publication Date : March, 2017
• Abstract : This paper examines the effects of the government partisanship on real estates-related financial and regulatory policy choices and outcomes. We argue that the right-wing government pursues the expansion of real estates-related loans and deregulatory policies with the goal of boosting up the real estates price. Further, we posit that the rise of asset prices is associated with the decrease of the demand for redistributive and social welfare policies. Our statistical analysis of the panel data for the 16 OECD countries in the period 1980-2011 finds supporting evidence. Right-wing governments tended to be associated with the increases in household debts, housing prices, and the choice of deregulatory policies.

• Author : Shin-wha Lee
• Journal : The Journal of Asiatic Studies
• Publisher : Asiatic Research Institute, Korea University
• Volume : 60(1)
• Publication Date : March, 2017
• Abstract : Non-military “new security” issues such as climate change, terrorism, cyber attacks, and humanitarian crisis has emerged as a serious security threats in the international relations of the 21st century. Furthermore, the interaction between such emerging security threats and traditional military/political security is increasingly becoming noticeable. For instance, global warming, trade disputes, and refugee flows causes armed conflicts within a state and/or inter-state conflicts. The Korean peninsula where geopolitical and military issues are have been the foremost concerns, is no longer an exception of such trends, but non-traditional, emerging security remains as a secondary concern to the Korean policy community. It should be noted that the complicated and unstable geopolitical security situations surrounding the Peninsula cannot be dealt with unless we examine the interaction of traditional-nontraditional security from the view of “complex geopolitics.” In this context, this paper examines what emerging security issues could become threats to social and national security through certain types of complex processes. The paper also discusses conditions for emerging security issues that link to military and political issues and generate inter-state conflicts. With particular emphasis upon issues related to population, migration and refugees, the paper identifies why these issues could be serious challenges for Korea’s security and diplomacy, as well as assesses the implications of these challenges for inter-Korean relations. The paper also highlights the significance of comprehensive security perspectives when coping with the international relations and security of Northeast Asia.

• Author : Yang-Ho Rhee
• Journal : Journal of Middle Eastern Affairs
• Publisher : Institute of Middle Eastern Affairs
• Volume : 16(1)
• Publication Date : March, 2017
• Abstract : The Arab Spring is one of the significant turning points in history, for it was the first democratic movement in the Arab world. Its beginning was filled with hope and delight, but eventually was overwhelmed by misery and despair just like the French Revolution. The theoretical debate views the cause of the Arab Spring with three different approaches. Some scholars believe it was political, economic, and cultural factors that led to the widespread discontent among people. Other scholars assert that the Arab Spring was triggered by the break-up of social contract which originally legitimized the authoritarian rule in exchange for the welfare favors given by authoritarian regime. The other scholars claim that a decrease in life satisfaction level due to economic stagnation was the main cause. This article aims to analyze the political and economic aspects, especially the different viewpoints between participants and non-participants of the Arab Spring.