Introduction: Brain drain in East Asia

Editor’s Note: In the first issue ofStudies in Comparative International Development under my editorship, I indicated that special issues would be published from time to time. The first of these was volume 25 (spring) 1990, number 1, “On Measuring Democracy,” with Alex Inkeles as guest editor. We present a somewhat different grouping of articles in this issue, edited by Parris Chang. “Brain Drain in East Asia” considers this important contemporary developmental issue along the lines indicated in his introduction, Other thematic topics or groupings of articles are also being considered for future issues of SCID.     

Organization character -construct of barnardian scholars

Early scholars, inspired by Chester I. Barnard's insights, saw clearly the tribal nature of human organizations. The idea of organization character emerged as the understructure for the uniqueness of the behavior of the organization. The theoretical basis for deriving the character of an enterprise was drawn, together with the powerful implications of such subtle sensibilities. Indeed, the entire idea of organization character - of necessity -preceded later thinking on culture since the character of an organization dictates its culture. These concepts are the substance and spirit of the article that follows.     

The chinese brain drain and policy options

Brain drain has become a growing problem in China’s overseas education, especially since the Tiananmen incident of June 1989. Many students have found it more difficult to adjust to the home environment. Some are afraid they would be punished for political reasons if they went home. Some use the issue as an opportunity to seek permanent overseas residence. Beijing is facing various difficulties in coping with the brain drain problem. Restrictions always anger students abroad. Family members often discourage students from returning. Incentives to attract students to return are inadequate. Most important, after Tiananmen Western governments refused to cooperate with Beijing and allowed Chinese students to stay. Concerned with the brain drain, Beijing is reconsidering its policy on foreign study. Of the policy alternatives, a continuation of the open policy appears to remain optimal, though some adjustments are necessary. In addition, several technical solutions to the brain drain problem are worth considering. Dr. Chang is professor of political science and director of the Center for East Asian Studies at the Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Deng is a research associate of the Center. His most recent publication isChina’s Brain Drain Problem: Causes, Consequences and Policy Options, and he is the author of several articles included in edited books and scholarly journals.     

Causes of brain drain and solutions: The Taiwan experience

Over the years, Taiwan has experienced “brain drain”, as more than 80 percent of its students who completed their graduate study in the United States have failed to return. Instead, they have found their ways into the faculties of American colleges and universities or employment opportunities in various research organizations and industries. This article examines brain drain, its origin in Taiwan, and government response. One of the major findings of this study is that the elite emigration in Taiwan has been caused by a host of complex academic, social, economic, and personal factors. Second, Taiwan’s brain drain into the United States is primarily a case of “education and migration.” It is an outflow of college graduates, not an exodus of trained scientists and engineers; therefore, Taiwan’s manpower loss in the short run is not as serious as the case where mature and experienced scientists and professionals leave. Furthermore, whereas a large number of college graduates leave each year to study abroad, a much larger number of the graduating class does remain in Taiwan. To reverse Taiwan’s brain drain, the government of the Republic of China (ROC) has already implemented an ambitious program to recruit Taiwan’s highly trained talents from overseas. Taiwan’s successful experience could be emulated by other developing countries. Shirley L. Chang received her B.A. in Foreign Languages and Literature from National Taiwan University, Master of Library Science from Columbia University, and M.A. in Higher Education from The Pennsylvania State University. She is Chairman of the Department of Library Services and Catalog/Reference Librarian at Stevenson Library, Lock Haven University, Lock Haven, PA 17745.     

Reverse brain drain in South Korea: State-led model

Korea’s reverse brain drain (RBD) has been an organized government effort, rather than a spontaneous social phenomenon, in that various policies and the political support of President Park, Chung-Hee were instrumental in laying the ground work for its success. Particular features of Korea’s RBD policies are the creation of a conducive domestic environment (i.e., government-sponsored strategic R & D institution-building, legal and administrative reforms), and importantly, the empowerment of returnees (via, i.e., exceptionally good material benefits, guarantees of research autonomy). President Park played the cardinal role in empowering repatriates at the expense of his own civil bureaucracy, and his capacity for such patronage derived from Korea’s bureaucratic-authoritarian political system. Returning scientists and engineers directly benefited from this political system as well as Park’s personal guardianship. For Park, empowerment of returning “brains” was necessary to accomplish his national industrialization plan, thereby enhancing his political legitimacy in domestic politics. An alliance with the R & D cadre was functionally necessary to successfully consolidate strong presidential power, and politically non-threatening due to the particular form of “pact of domination” in Korea’s power structure. RBD in Korea will continue in the near future given Korea’s drive for high technology, and the remarkable expansion of local industrial and educational sectors. Korea’s future RBD, however, needs to pay closer attention to the following four problems: research autonomy; equality issues; skill-based repatriation of technicians and engineers rather than Ph.D.’s; and subsidies to small and medium industry for RBD. Bang-Soon L. Yoon is assistant professor of political science, Central Washington University. She is currently working onWorld Bibliographical Series: South Korea, to be published by Clio Press, Ltd., Oxford, England, co-edited with Michael A. Launius. An earlier version of this paper was read at the 49th Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, Illinois, April 18–20, 1991.     

Conceptualizing “Ethnicity” and “ethnic conflict”: A controversy revisited

The literature on “ethnicity” and “ethnic conflict” still fails to yield either definitional precision or usable empirical referents for the study of either phenomenon. This article offers a critique of the key literature on these subjects and a propositional inventory summarizing points of scholarly agreement, a discussion of the empirical problems that face scholars in this field, and, finally a general model for the analysis of particular ethnic conflicts, including consideration of the correlative tangents of resolution intervention.