Korea’s middle power activism and peacekeeping operations

This paper deals with Korea’s peacekeeping operations (PKO) activities that are important to assess its middle power activism. The numbers of Korean PKO troops lessened drastically during the period 2003–2007. The purpose of this paper’s analysis is to discover the determinants of this drastic change. For the analysis, economic growth and state budgets are classified as economic factors, while partisanship and political leadership are classified as political factors. The analysis led to the following conclusion. Regarding economic factors, the economic growth and the state and defense budget stay relatively constant and do not match the fluctuation of the PKO activities in Korea. Regarding political factors, there is no correspondence between partisanship and the PKO policy, because the liberal governments of Kim Dae Jung and Roh Moo Hyun implemented different PKO policies. The political leadership factor appears to be rather significant. Both Kim Dae Jung and Lee Myung Bak eagerly seek international cooperation. In contrast, Roh Moo Hyun emphasizes self-reliance. Thus, we conclude that the political leadership factor is most likely to influence the fluctuation of PKO activities in Korea.     

The Role of Forensic Anthropology in the Examination of the Daegu Subway Disaster (2003, Korea)*

Abstract: Meticulous recovery of victims in the Daegu subway disaster was possible, because charred and fragmented victims were left in situ. Because bodies were piled one over another within the train, appropriate methodology during the recovery was critical to identifying the victims. The disaster area was thoroughly documented with notes, photographs, and schematic drawings of the various locations. The recovery team, comprising two medical examiners and one forensic anthropologist, decided when charred body parts and cremated bones were linked to the same individual based on the anatomy and forensic anthropological examination. Without these recovery procedures, it would not have been possible to efficiently harvest representative DNA sample from most of the victims’ body parts. After the entire process of identification, 136 victims were positively identified, and six victims remained unidentified. This study supports the crucial role of forensic anthropologists in the recovery of victims, especially in fire scenes.     

Honeymoon or consolidation,or both?: Time dependence of democratic durability

Much research has been done to identify factors that facilitate or prevent democratic breakdown. Little attention, however, has been paid to the question of whether and how the baseline risk level (after controlling for the impacts of relevant factors) changes over time. Using a flexible parametric survival model, I analyse the duration of 149 democratic periods (1946–2008) and demonstrate that the baseline risk has an inverted-U shape, which provides evidence for the honeymoon effect and democratic consolidation. This finding has an important policy implication for democratic assistance programmes.     

Structural changes in Central and Eastern European economies: breaking news or breaking the ice?

This paper extends the sparse existing literature on structural breaks in emerging markets in Central and Eastern Europe by analyzing structural breaks in the intercept, trend and variance of monthly key macroeconomic variables, such as industrial production, inflation, monetary aggregates, nominal exchange rates and series related to the labor market. Using the Bayesian procedure developed by Wang and Zivot (2000, A Bayesian time series model of multiple structural changes in level, trend and variance. J Busi Econom 18:374–386), we provide strong evidence in favor of multiple structural breaks in the series under study. As most of the existing empirical literature on European emerging markets does not sufficiently deal with structural breaks, the instability found in this paper has important implications for macro-econometric modeling as well as the ensuing recommendations for economic policy.     

Critical Review of Conceptual Definitions of Chinese Corruption: a formal–legal perspective

This paper examines definitions of Chinese corruption. While many Chinese corruption studies have argued that Chinese corruption has its own unique features, our review of definitions of Chinese corruption featured in current academic literature reveals that most definitions in use are similar to the general definition of corruption: abuse of public office for private gains. Valuable as it is, such a general definition does not adequately specify the actors, behavior and motives in Chinese corruption. This paper argues that actors in Chinese corruption are not limited to employees in the public sector but also include any Chinese state functionary engaging in public activities. In addition, corrupt behavior refers to both economic (embezzlement, misappropriation of public funds, and bribery) and disciplinary corruption (violation of social norms and the dereliction of duty) that are damaging to public interests. In doing so, this paper finds that even behavior such as the dereliction of duty and violations of social norms, that is not motivated by private gain, is regarded as corruption in China. We also discuss the political nature of this broadly defined Chinese corruption.     

Democratisation and environmental non-governmental organisations in Indonesia

The spread of democratic ideas from the late 1980s, along with the development of the democratisation movement, contributed to the quantitative growth of environmental non-governmental organisations (ENGOs) in Indonesia. In addition, the democratisation of formal institutions after the late 1990s facilitated ENGO activities. Importantly, democratisation has also contributed to the qualitative development of ENGOs. Democratic ideas “re-framed” environmental issues, politicising ENGO activities, even before the end of the Suharto regime. Since the late 1990s, democratic ideas have further shifted ENGO strategies to conform more with democratic values and institutions, while stimulating efforts to enhance accountability and representation within ENGOs. It is argued that these developments may enhance the quality of democracy.     

Integration of Integrity Information into Performance Evaluation: The Impact on Korean Public Enterprises

ABSTRACT

This article analyzes Korean public enterprises that have integrated integrity information within their performance evaluations. Performance and integrity often tend to be separately managed because they are regarded as mutually exclusive. In the Korean case, some public enterprises had expected that the integration of performance and integrity management would not produce significant changes, mainly because of the lack of direct incentives and the light weight (3%) given to integrity in performance evaluation. However, this article shows a positive correlation between performance and integrity. Moreover, we can observe an improvement in integrity following the integration of integrity information into performance evaluation. Such a change was possible not only because of financial incentives, but also because of the increasing attention CEOs placed on integrity management, which made it easier for public enterprises to institutionalize their own ethical management policies. At the same time, competition amongst public enterprises over performance scores expedited the diffusion of innovative integrity policies.