Political Ideology and Dynamics of Protestors in South Korea: In Respect of the Degree of Ideology and the Ideological Distance from the Incumbent Government (2022.02)

Abstract: This paper aims to analyze how protest participants’ characteristics in South Korea have changed since 2004. This research assesses a degree of political ideology and ideological distances from the incumbent government as main explanatory variables. To be specific, the paper proposes that the probability of participating in protests increases as a degree of political ideology becomes higher. Also, the farther ideological distances between an individual’s political ideology and the incumbent government’s ideological orientations are, the more likely the individual will participate in protests. Data from the 2004, 2009, 2014, and 2018 Korean General Social Survey (KGSS) substantiated that the degree of ideology affected likelihood to participate in protests more than the direction of the ideology would. Additionally, the empirical results demonstrated that the ideological distance between an individual and the incumbent government affected the individual’s participation in recent protests in South Korea.

 

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Foreign direct investment and democratic survival: a sectoral approach (2022.02)

Abstract : How do foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows affect democratic survival? No study has examined how FDI influences the likelihood of democratic survival, although many studies have studied the effect of regime type on FDI inflows. The previous finding that FDI contributes to authoritarian survival and decreases prospects for democratization does not answer this question since determinants of democratic transitions are clearly distinct from those of democratic survival. I argue that FDI in non-primary sectors is more likely than FDI in primary sectors to contribute to democratic survival since non-primary FDI is likely to produce growth-enhancing effects through upstream and downstream linkages in the host economy and facilitate the diffusion of democratic ideas and norms originating from the West. To overcome the problem of the sectoral FDI data’s poor coverage, I exploit an exogenous variation in FDI inflows by utilizing a country’s geographical distance from developed economies. Using a sample of democracies from 1970 to 2010, I find that inward FDI, instrumented by market proximity to developed economies, is associated with an increased likelihood of democratic survival. The analysis of primary and non-primary FDI also provides supporting evidence.

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Nationalism and Immigration Control (2022.01)

Abstract: Does the rise of nationalism lead to immigration policy change? By focusing on elite-led nationalism, this study offers a novel perspective: When top political leaders rely on nationalism as their legitimation strategy, they are more disposed to adopt policies aimed at strict immigration control, such as the imposition of sanctions on illegal immigrants, due to their hands being tied. We perform a battery of empirical tests using a cross-national, time-series data for 33 countries for the years 1980–2010. We find evidence that nationalist countries are positively associated with heightened immigration control. This finding is robust even after possible reverse causality is taken into account. The overall analysis illustrates that nationalism is a significant factor in explaining why countries are pushing for more restrictive immigration control in the contemporary world.

 

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Meaning of ‘rational’ and ‘real’ in Preface(Vorrede) of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right – In loving memory of the late Professor Im-soo Yoo (1942.11.18.-2021.12.11) (2021.12)

  • Author : Choi Chi won
  • Publication : Zeitschrift der Koreanisch-Deutschen Gesellschaft fuer Sozialwissenschaften
  • Publisher : Koreanisch-Deutsche Gesellschaft Fuer Sozialwissenschaften(K-G Association For Social Sciences)
  • Volume : 31(4)
  • Date : December, 2021

Abstract: ‘What is rational is real; and what is real is rational’ – This phrase appears in ‘Preface(Vorrede)’ of Hegel’s ‘Elements of the Philosophy of Right.’ Because of its complexity in meaning it is the subject of much debate; there is critics for example that the conservative and reactionary Prussian state existing as a ‘real thing’ was not a ‘rational’ one. However, Hegel’s words need to be understood as his own philosophical position to the world in order to open a new horizon to understand the newly changed political and social reality after European revolutions. For Hegel, what was important was the world ‘grasped in reality(Substanz).’ Thus, his statement of position contains not only aspects of the historical reality of the French Revolution and the British Industrial Revolution but also those of critical reflections on the Enlightenment and classical economic theories, including the theory of natural rights. Philosophy becomes ‘science(Wissenschaft)’ in the re-establishment of the relationship between philosophy and reality. In short, in ’science’, reality is ‘rational’ because it does not exist in a person’s ‘special thought(Meinen)’, and also ‘real’ because it exists by specific historical processes. At the same time, philosophy is ‘real’ because it grasps reality as this world, not the otherworld that does not exist, and also ‘rational’ because it grasps reality in the rational form of a concept.

 

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A Study on the Concept of ‘Leading Country’ (2021.12)

  • Author : Wang Hwi Lee, Nam-Kook KIM
  • Publication : RIAS
  • Publisher : Institute of International Affairs
  • Volume : 30(4)
  • Date : December, 2021

Abstract: In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the concept of a leading country is gaining salience in which a state sets an example on how to respond to a new global crisis. This article examines the definition and ideological origins of the leading country concept, as well as its necessary conditions and examples of leading countries for each stage of industrial revolution. This article also compares concepts similar to those of leading countries such as hegemonic states, great powers, advanced countries, advanced small countries, and middle powers. The concept of a leading country refers to a state that provides an example for other countries to refer to by faithfully carrying out good policies or systems from a normative point of view. Leading countries are distinguished from advanced countries, which are defined as countries who are at a more advanced stage than others on the singular path to development assumed by modernization theory. They are different from great powers that set as their ultimate goal as national prosperity and defense because leading countries can lead the zeitgeist of the times and present a direction that other countries should go in. Leading countries also wish to accrue influence through good examples of governance, unlike hegemonic states that project their overwhelming national power to the world. In other words, the leading country is a new concept of a country that leads the international order in a better direction by exerting its influence and setting an example for other countries to follow beyond the existing concepts of advanced countries, great powers, and hegemonic states.

 

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The Korean party system after democratization, how will it be viewed? Evaluation of the level of institutionalization of the party system from the perspective of electoral volatility (2021.12)

  • Author : Hyun Jae Ho
  • Publication : Korean Political Science Review
  • Publisher : The Korean Political Science Association
  • Volume : 55(5)
  • Date : December, 2021

Abstract: This paper aims to analyze the phenomenon of the splits and mergers between parties in Korean party politics after democratization through the ‘revised’ Pedersen index and evaluate the level of institutionalization. Two electoral volatility indices were used. One is extra-system/ within-system volatility resulting from entry and exit between parties, and the other is block/within-block volatility resulting from progress-conservative (or left-right) contexts. The analysis results are as follows. On the one hand, the high index of total electoral volatility is largely due to an increase in extra-system volatility rather than within-system volatility, and an increase in within-block volatility rather than block volatility. On the other hand, the proportion of within-system volatility and bloc volatility also appears to gradually increase. However, in either case, the implication of the electoral volatility index is the continuation of instability resulting from the low level of institutionalization of the party system. It means that even though a generation has passed since democratization, the social base of the party system and the linkage between parties and voters are still weak. According to Sartori’s expression, it represents the absence of a mass party that can strongly cohere the party system. This i s why the Korean p arty system is defined a s an ‘ inchoate p arty system’.

 

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