New approaches to North Korean politics after reunification: The search for a common Korean identity

Whilst most of the literature focusing on the Korean peninsula has concentrated on how to achieve unification through confidence-building measures, dialogues, negotiation and diplomacy, little attention has been paid to how a unified Korean identity, a core component of any potential reunification scheme could develop and be sustained. The paper addresses this gap by: (1) defining what national identity is, and how Korean identities have been formed, (2) outlining how both South and North Korea have understood and used the concept of national identity, (3) suggesting possible grounds on which the two Koreas could build a new, common national identity.     

Legitimating totalitarianism: Melodrama and mass politics in North Korean film

This article attempts to analyze the construction and maintenance of political legitimacy in North Korea through the lens of its state-produced films. After classifying North Korea’s regime as totalitarian, we then discuss the strategies of legitimation available given this classification, and highlight the importance of ideology therein. Next, we demonstrate the importance of film within North Korea’s ideological apparatus and thematically analyze six North Korean films dating from 1948-2006. From this analysis, we situate the social role of film in contemporary North Korea and argue that it will remain a crucial force amongst the country’s various attempts to maintain legitimacy.     

Preparing for power: The German Greens and the challenge of party politics

This article argues that although there is no contradiction as such between radical commitment and practical politics, the demands of modern party and electoral politics present a challenge to radical parties. The case of the German Greens, Europe's most successful ecology party, is examined in this context, as they have faced this dilemma since their take-off into mainstream politics in the 1980s. This article assesses their response to the radicalism versus realism challenge over the past two decades, as well as considering its impact on the organizational structure of the party, its electoral strategy, ideology and policy agenda.     

Introduction: the politics of public justification

ABSTRACT

Introducing the special issue, this introduction sketches a broad frame for studying public justification. Addressing the relevance of studying this phenomenon, we contend that justificatory processes are very much at the core today’s politics. Defining the concept inclusively, we highlight the relevance of communicative agency and, at the same time, the salience of communicative contexts that enable this agency. Casting our net widely, we show how public justification is related to other, more thoroughly studied concepts, such as legitimacy, authority and power. Encouraging students of public justification to add to our understanding of justificatory processes, we highlight multiple fruitful methodological avenues for studying the concept.     

Indian politics in the 1990s: Trends and transformations

This article examines significant transformations that have occurred in Indian politics in the last decade, particularly after the eclipse of the one‐party dominant system. India is said to have entered the era of coalition politics with all its attendant consequences. The advent of coalition politics has induced pronounced political changes but coalition politics itself can be seen as a consequence of these changes. Cause and effect is therefore hard to separate but transformations can be identified with respect to India's electoral politics; stability of governments and the party system; federal‐regional equations; and, participation and empowerment. This article discusses these themes to provide an understanding of the noticeable mutations that the Indian political system has undergone.     

Introduction: Contemporary Romanian politics

Romania is an archetypical case of protracted post-communism. Its regime transition was problematic and its founding election flawed, allowing successor communists to secure their hold on power. A period of quasi-authoritarianism and failed reform followed until critical elections in 1996 brought the liberal opposition to power for the first time. Since that time its political system has stabilized into a pattern in which electoral competition occurs but political accountability is limited and corruption is widespread. The current regime should therefore be considered as consolidated, bearing the marks of the transition period, but unlikely to undergo any further near term dramatic change.     

太极旗下的韩国米农风波

2005年12月13日,多哈回合贸易谈判(以下简称"DDA")让世人的目光再次投向东方之珠--香港.会议期间,各国代表将重点就农产品、非农产品市场开放等问题进行讨论.而当天,在举世闻名的维多利亚湾海面上,一面飘扬的韩国太极旗抢尽了刚刚揭幕的WTO第六次部长级会议的风头.与会场内紧张、激烈的气氛相比,香港街头刮起的这股强劲"韩风"似乎来得更加猛烈.     

Prospects for Russia-NATO relations: The SWOT analysis

Despite recent changes in international relations and lapse of time since the fall of the USSR, the issue of Russian membership in NATO has been an ongoing fact. Hence, the principle scope of the paper is SWOT analysis of potential Russian membership in NATO from the perspective of the Russian Federation. Through the introduction and evaluation of advantages and disadvantages of such membership in the light of latest geopolitical events in Eurasia suggested by academic and professional circles in NATO countries and Russia, we proceed with identification of fundamental strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that Russia might face. Taking into account such determining factors as the size of its territory, shifting geopolitical conditions in the world, modern understanding of security and a potentially frozen dispute in Ukraine, we come to the conclusion that benefits potentially brought by Russian membership in NATO could be sustained while drawbacks could be eliminated by incorporation of NATO to OSCE and a change in voting procedures of the Alliance.     

Critical Review: the politics of sovereign debt

In this article, I interrogate what is meant by ‘the politics of sovereign debt’, and examine how various authors, especially David Graeber, have addressed this question. More specifically, I seek to extend my contribution to the goals of the ‘Repoliticizing Debt’ workshop, which inspired this special issue, by proposing a theoretical framework for understanding the role of sovereign debt in mediating the contradictions of neoliberal capitalism, and by challenging dominant treatments of the sovereign debt crisis currently underway in Greece. I argue that the existing literature fails to help grasp the complexity of sovereign debt as a social relation, and that debt must be understood as what Marx refers to as ‘fictitious capital’, that is, capital backed not by a commodity transaction, but by a claim on future value. The management of confidence in the value of fictitious capital through the use of the ‘golden noose’ of debt is the key process to be understood in order to grasp the complexity of sovereign debt crises.     

Set for Instability: Prospects for Conflict and Cooperation between Israel and Jordan

This article argues that since 1949, the relationship between Israel and Jordan has depended primarily on their interactions with a Third Actor--identified as Egypt from 1949 to the mid-1970s, and as the Palestinians thereafter. Conflict between Israel and Jordan always follows conflict one or both nations have with the Third Actor. The analysis suggests a cyclical and hierarchical allegiance condition, in which Jordan switches from an alliance with Israel to an alliance with the Third Actor. Jordan cooperates with Israel--even if it itself engages in conflict with the Third Actor--until Israel engages in conflict with the Third Actor, at which point Jordan realigns with the Third Actor against Israel. This analysis suggests that to avoid an Israeli-Jordanian conflict, Israel must reach an agreement with the Palestinians regarding the existence and borders of a Palestinian state. Such an agreement, however, may not guarantee permanent peace between Israel and Jordan, as regional tensions fueled by controversy regarding the existence and legitimacy of the Jordanian Hashemite monarchy may rise again. Thus, even if a Palestinian state were established, the current peace between Israel and Jordan might be transitory.     

Capturing globalization: Prospects and projects

The Asian economic crisis of 1997 highlighted the inherent instability of the new worldwide economic order being created by highly mobile capital, and also its destabilizing social and political effects, especially in the transitional societies which had proved so hospitable to the champions of globalization and to proffered capital inputs. Whether these societies are destined to be subsumed and captured by globalization processes, or whether they and their citizens have any possibility of capturing some genuine benefits from advancing globalization, may rest on whether these transitional states and societies can assert, or at least influence, the terms of their engagement with those processes. This will not be possible, however, if people, societies and states capitulate in advance to the forces and processes of globalization as irresistible. This issue is explored through the grounded investigation of four key questions: do globalization processes serve any ends beyond themselves? How might one grasp the best, and make the most, of globalization? Is the logic of the market immutable and inflexible transculturally, or is it amenable to varying forms of cultural inflection and political supervision? Can what globalization delivers be drawn upon selectively, or is it instead a 'package-deal'?     

Trust and the politics of postcommunism

The citizens of postcommunist states have relatively low levels of trust in their basic political institutions. This paper argues that to consolidate the advances towards civil society and democracy particular attention must be paid to strengthening trust. Trust requires not just the institutional framework appropriate to democracy and the rule of law — already substantially in place — but also an appreciation of politics and civil society as spheres of continuing diversity, competition and conflict. The deficit of trust can be addressed by a leadership exemplary in its service to the public interest, and by an acceptance of the new, adversarial politics.