Protest by candlelight: A comparative analysis of candlelight vigils in South Korea

ABSTRACT

Protest activist leaders must make a series of decisions about the strategies they use; one such decision is the choice of tactic or performance, often informed by their cultural historic contentious repertoire. In South Korea's contentious repertoire, the use of candlelight vigils has become an increasingly prevalent form of protest tactic. Candlelight vigils have become an increasingly prominent tactic in South Korea’s repertoire over the last two decades, as evidenced by major candlelight vigils in 2002, 2008, and 2016-2017. In this study, we explore the ways in which candlelight vigils as a protest tactic have evolved over time in South Korea. We notably find that vigils emerged as a left-wing protest tactic in 2002, but right-wing protesters began adopting the tactic during the counter-protests opposing President Park Geun-Hye’s impeachment in 2016–2017 (Taegeukgi Giphoei). Additionally, we find that candlelight vigils drew participants from an increasingly wide swath of society over time and average citizens assumed greater organizational roles. This research not only contributes to the literature on South Korean social movements and civil society, but to understanding candlelight vigils as a distinct form of protest and how contentious repertoires evolve over time more broadly.     

The effects of national cultures on two technologically advanced countries: The case of e-leadership in South Korea and the United States

The increased use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has triggered enormous innovation in the public sector and created positive public value at the managerial, delivery of services, and policy levels. However, these positive outcomes do not automatically accrue simply by adoption of ICTs as public leaders can fail to adopt relevant new ICTs, use them poorly, or use them in ways that actually diminish public value, which raises the question of the importance of e-leadership. This article examines e-leadership and innovation capacity at the individual public manager level and fills in some gaps about the practice and implementation of ICTs in the public sector. We explore eight research questions useful in theorizing about e-leadership, develop constructs of e-leadership, and describe the current development of e-leadership. By comparing e-leadership in two country settings (South Korea and the United States), we also overcome the limitations of the existing Western-oriented studies about innovations in the public sector. In addition to the growth of e-leadership use and requirements for a variety of competencies equivalent to, but separate from, traditional communication competences, we find that national cultures exert significant influence on the major constructs of e-leadership, which implies that an effective e-leadership strategy should consider cultural contexts seriously.     

韩国1998-2001行政改革的基本经验

此次韩国行政改革在政府机构、管理制度、行政文化等相关层面施行了平衡到位相互协调的改革举措 ;改革的切入点是以职能转变为中心的政府机构重组、开放型人事制度的推开、高级公务员年薪制的试行、责任运营制度的建立、绩效管理制度的试验 ,顾客宪章制度的引进 ,以及部分公共管理事务外部委托制的探索 ;其基本经验是 ,机构改革的效度有赖于行政系统内相关要素的全面优化 ,行政改革的效度则有赖于整体改革环境的优化 ,民间专家参与是促进政府改革的重要资源 ,政府间行政架构模式决定了地方机构改革的成效。     

中韩建交以来两国文化教育交流综述

中韩文化教育交流是中韩全面合作伙伴关系的重要组成部分。中韩建交15年来,两国的文化教育交流取得了丰硕的成果。两国政府签署了一系列的交流协议,中国出现了"韩流"现象,韩国也掀起了强劲的"汉风",中国的韩国问题研究和韩国语教育发展迅速,韩国的汉学研究和中文教育持续升温,来华韩国留学生和赴韩中国留学生的人数稳居所在国外国留学生之首。两国文化教育交流的快速发展得益于政府的支持、经贸合作的稳步增长以及两国文化的渊源关系。     

韩国城市化快速发展的动力机制研究

韩国城市化快速发展是在市场和政府的共同推动下实现的,它具有三个明显的特征:城市带动的城市化、自由的人口流动政策和高度集中的城市化模式。韩国用了30年左右的时间,使城市化水平从28%提高到了74.4%。研究韩国的城市化快速发展动力机制,有助于中国城市化快速发展道路的选择。     

日韩公务员制度改革研究

作为地理上的邻国 ,日本和韩国具有很多相似之处。目前 ,政府的国际竞争力排名靠后的问题引起了两国政府的极大关注。为了适应全球化和信息化的发展趋势 ,提高政府竞争力 ,两国试图对各自的公务员制度进行大刀阔斧的改革。本文在对日本和韩国公务员制度的特点及存在的问题进行比较分析的基础上 ,提出了两国公务员制度改革所面临的最为紧迫的任务和相应的政策建议。     

NORTH KOREA’S PERSPECTIVES IN ITS ARGUMENT FOR A PEACE TREATY

In recent years, North Korea’s military provocations have been making the headlines. Beyond its harsh actions and remarks, North Korea persistently mentions ‘peace’ through a demand for a ‘peace treaty’. This may sound paradoxical. However, the origin of the North Korean argument for a peace treaty dates back to the Korean War (1950–53). Since then, North Korea has continued to raise the issue of a peace treaty in a consistent manner and the arguments have displayed similar logic and terminology throughout. It is this consistency and similarity that this article examines: through reviewing North Korea’s original texts, this article attempts to undercover North Korea's perspectives reflected in its argument for a peace treaty.     

中日韩自贸区的可行性与经济周期规律

自2002年中日韩自由贸易区的构想提出以来,学界和决策部门对其建立的可行性仍持怀疑态度。本研究率先采用惩罚性样条滤波（Penalized Spline Filter）对中日韩实际产出变量进行分解,计算了周期项的相关系数和滚动相关性并检验了格兰杰因果关系,探讨建立三国自贸区的可行性。实证研究结果表明：中日、中韩间同期相关度低,但日韩间具有显著的同期相关性,并自1998年趋强,三者之间无格兰杰因果关系。因此,笔者认为从经济周期的协动性角度来看,建立中日韩自由贸易区的时机尚未成熟。建议可以先尝试建立日韩自由贸易区,逐步推进中日韩自贸区进程。     

Trends and mechanisms of corruption in South Korea

Corruption remains one of the key obstacles to democratization and good governance. Given the nature of the subject, corruption is notoriously difficult to study. International comparisons and rankings of good governance such as the World Bank World Governance Indicators, the Bertelsmann Sustainable Governance Index, or Transparency International's Global Corruption Index are very useful for providing the big picture on corruption. To understand trends and mechanisms of corruption, however, it is necessary to conduct case studies on both successful and failed cases of anti-corruption policies. This paper investigates the successes and challenges of the fight against corruption in South Korea since the beginning of democratization in 1987. The investigation shows that Korea has generally been successful in controlling corruption. The paper argues that the remaining problems can be largely explained by the legacy of authoritarian rule and the undermining of state autonomy through the concentration of economic power.     

Aid and state-building,Part I: South Korea and Taiwan

Under what conditions does foreign aid in the aftermath of war foster state-building? This article argues that institutional legacy and continuity and the politics of aid may matter. In the aftermath of war, for an aid regime to reinforce state-building, it may need to ensure continuity in the strength of the state and to use recipient mechanisms and finance policies that generate a greater state capacity. The existence and continuity of a Weberian state may increase the likelihood of effective state-building. If the state is relatively strong, with a Weberian bureaucracy, aid can further reinforce it when aid is spent through national systems or is aligned with local priorities, with efforts to ensure that the recipient leaders reinforce state effectiveness by implementing policies that may require greater state capacity. Evidence for this argument is provided through pairwise comparison of state-building patterns between South Korea and Taiwan.