• 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.

• 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.

• Author : Joo-Youn Jung, Ming Zeng
• Publication : ASIAN PERSPECTIVE
• Publisher : preprint.press.jhu.edu
• Volume : 46(3)
• Date : December, 2021

Abstract: In the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)has remained stable despite frequent popular protests. Focusing on environmental-related protests, we attempt to explain how the CCP has utilized domesic news media to deal with protests and ensure regime stability. We chose five major protests against Para-Xylene (PX) and analyzed all of the People’s Daily Online (PDO) articles thereon since 2007. From the Hu Jintao to Xi Jinping governments, PDO’s collective portrayal of the anti-PX protests has dramatically changed from a symbol of democratic progress to an impediment to national industrialization and social stability. The systematically orchestrated media framing demonstrates that, instead of indiscriminately suppressing information on protests, the party has deliberately chosen when and what to permit and what images to project onto the protests. This article provides new insights into the CCP’s media strategy for popular protest and sheds light on how China’s authoritarian regime has maintained political legitimacy and social stability despite a considerable level of public discontent and deepening political oppression.

• Author : Joo-Youn Jung, Eun-Bi Shin
• Publication : Korea and World Politics
• Publisher : THE INSTITUTE FOR FAR EASTERN STUDIES
• Volume : 38(2)
• Date : December, 2021

Abstract: This paper analyzes the Chinese central and local governments’ information control during the early stage of COVID-19 proliferation. Focusing on the critical first two months since the COVID-19 outbreak, between December 1, 2019 and January 23, 2020, it examines how the Wuhan municipal government and the central government concealed and distorted information on the disease by suppressing medical institutions, doctors, and experts, which contributed to the failure in early riposte to the disease and the nation-wide proliferation afterwards. This paper highlights the Chinese governments’ mismanagement of COVID-19 during the first two months is not simply a systematic failure but also a deliberate political choice, holding both the central and local governments responsible for the consequences.

• 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’.

• Author : Ji Il Kim
• Publication : STRATEGIC STUDIES
• Publisher : Korea Research Institute for Strategy
• Volume : 28(3)
• Date : November, 2021

Abstract: Why did the United States, which had restricted South Korea’s missile development for 42 years, agree to terminate the South Korea-U.S. Missile Guidelines? What kind of national psychology was at work? The purpose of this study is to analyze the political psychology across countries revealed in the missile mechanism by taking the missile agreement of the ROK-US alliance as an example. Missiles can be used as a proxy that can reveal the psychology of a country in International Relations. A missile is an object that induces a ‘fear of threat’ in an adversary and an object that induces a ‘fear of entrapment’ in an ally. In a nutshell, for Washington the ‘fear of threat’ of a North Korean nuclear missile attack on the the continental U.S. is greater than the ‘fear of entrapment’ in war by South Korea. Therefore, the U.S. has needed to strengthen South Korea’s missile capabilities and actively ended the Missile Guidelines.

• Author : Han Il Chang, Woo Chang Kang
• Publication : The Social Science Journal
• Publisher : Taylor & Francis
• Date : November, 2021

Abstract: To verify whether a common superordinate identity promotes intergroup social capital, we analyze survey data from three cross-sectional surveys conducted in South Korea one week before, two days after, and six months after the 2018 North Korea–United States summit in Singapore. A comparison of responses from the first and second surveys reveals that the summit positively changed South Korean natives’ altruism toward and trust in North Korean refugees by encouraging a sense of co-ethnicity among the natives. From an additional analysis of data from the third survey, we further find that the positive effects of the summit persisted even after six months.