From rule-taker to rule-promoting regulatory state: South Korea in the nearly-global competition regime

When rapid economic growth catapults a country within a few years from the margins of the global economy to middle power status, does global regulatory governance need to brace for a challenge to the status quo? To answer this question, we extend the power transition theory of global economic governance to middle powers: A rising middle power should be expected to challenge the international regulatory status quo only if increasing issue-specific strength of its regulatory state coincides with preferences that diverge from the preferences of the established powers, which are enshrined in the status quo. We examine this argument empirically, focusing on South Korea in the realm of competition law and policy. We find that South Korea, a non-participant in the international competition regime until the 1980s, developed in the 1990s substantial regulatory capacity and capability and thus “spoiler potential.” At the same time, however, its policy preferences converged upon the norms and practices established by the United States and the European Union, albeit with some distinct elements. Under these conditions, we expect a transition from rule-taker to rule-promoter. We find that South Korea has indeed in recent years begun to actively promote well-established competition law and policy norms and practices – supplemented by its distinct elements – through technical assistance programs, as well as various bilateral channels and multilateral institutions. The findings suggest that the power transition theory of global economic governance is usefully applicable to middle powers, too.     

Grounding transnational business governance: A political-strategic perspective on government responses in the Global South

Recent scholarship on transnational business governance has begun to examine public-private interactions and the active role of governments. We make two key contributions that integrate and expand this literature. First, in juxtaposition to functionalist accounts, we foreground the fundamentally political and often contentious character of these interactions. As private transnational governance schemes and standards “hit the ground,” private-public interactions, we argue, are embedded in national political arenas and tied to domestic distributional struggles among competing regulatory coalitions. Building upon multiple empirical streams of research, we develop a political-strategic framework that maps the diversity of Southern government responses (substitute, adopt, repurpose, replace, or reject) to transnational private governance. Our framework shows that government responses are a function of both strategic fit with domestic industrial capabilities and structures, and strength of developmental state capacity. Second, our proposed framework adopts the vantage point of Global South governments and industries, particularly how development challenges and strategic options within global value chains affect their understanding of, and responses to, transnational schemes and standards. This is an important corrective to a Northern bias in the private governance literature.     

文明史·性别史·东亚史·博览会的集结展示:再审“人类馆”事件

1903年日本大阪博览会上发生的"人类馆"事件,在立体检视下呈现出全景意涵:文明史视域下的文明等级论已被清末知识界接受,成为其世界观的直接资源;文明的性别标准将"缠足女""鸦片男"具象为事关国族文明进程与国家未来图景的焦点,并转化为一项紧迫的政治任务与求生竞胜的社会意志;而在东亚社会日本发生的对中国以往历史与现实的逆转,刺激了清末中国饱满的民族主义情绪,成为民族主义情绪来源的现实基础;延续并复制了殖民主义特色的大阪博览会人类馆,成为对中国进行融人群体貌、性别地位、文明进程与国家形象等于一体的集结展示与放大的围观平台,最终催生出清末国人的集体抗议。"小事变事件"的背后,体现了性别议题与国家民族议题密切相联,折射出20世纪初殖民话语对中国性别关系和文明观念的塑造及其对中国知识分子的影响。     

ASEAN AND CHINA IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA DISPUTES

The South China Sea disputes involve both island and maritime claims among sovereign states and the issue has long been a point of debate in international politics. It involves not only the countries in dispute but also other major world powers, including the United States. Its important strategic location and the abundant resources make the South China Sea a target of contention among the claimant countries. The arbitral ruling in July 2016 gives a new momentum to the dispute. The article examines the strategic relations of China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) by analyzing the positions and steps taken by ASEAN and China, as well as ASEAN-China joint initiatives. It also discusses the challenges and viable solutions to the dispute.     

从国内、国际政治的角度解析东南亚环境的困境与机遇

本文旨在从国内政治和国际政治的角度探析东南亚环境困境的根源与出路。东南亚曾被认为是全球环境的模范区,但如今的东南亚也是全球环境恶化浪潮下的重灾区。区域内国家重发展、轻环保的决策思路,以及普遍存在的腐败与行政低效率是导致环境恶化的国内原因。而国际市场对源自东南亚的、以消耗资源为主的产品的高度需求,以及需求国政府有意、无意地忽视过度消费资源类产品对东南亚环境的负面影响,则是导致东南亚环境恶化的国际原因。因此,解决东南亚环境困境仍需要内、外两方面的努力——发达国家为东南亚发展中国家提供必要的资金与技术援助,区域内国家在决策中注意环保,并遏制腐败、提高行政效率,这些都有助于改善东南亚的环境困境。     

东南亚地区安全研究:方法与观点

对东南亚地区安全研究的单变量分析,就像一个放大镜,其结论固然可能有失偏颇,但却可以让我们明了每一个变量在维护东南亚地区安全中的具体作用。而现有的多变量分析尝试,固然可以给我们一种整体感,却也让我们迷失,无法把握各自变量的具体作用。也许以动态市场理论为基础的需求—供给模式可以作为研究东南亚地区安全的另一种多变量分析尝试。     

Social enterprise and work integration of North Korean migrants in South Korea

This contribution aims to present the general issue of integrating North Korean (NK) migrants living in South Korea into jobs and society, the main characteristics of the social enterprise scheme set up in South Korea, and a few examples of social enterprises engaged in NKs migrants’ work integration. It stresses that the process of integrating NK migrants through the social enterprise model leads to apprehend this question, not in the traditional framework of policies specific to NK migrants, but in a broader framework to address a more comprehensive issue of the integration of vulnerable populations. This is an orientation that breaks with the previous public-policy framework towards NK migrants without real counterpart benefits. This approach also supplements governmental policies that have been developed since 2005 to encourage NK migrants to engage in skills training and support programmes in employment coaching. By adding case studies that assess the effectiveness of NK migrants’ work integration based on the criteria of job creation, job skills enhancement, and normal job sustenance, this study examines whether the European-originated work integration social enterprise model works for a particular social enterprise type benefiting NK migrants in South Korea.     

太平洋战争期间日本对东南亚的财政金融统制

1941年日本在发动太平洋战争的同时,开始对东南亚地区实行财政金融统制,采取政府出台相关政策、军队和金融机构具体实施的方针,滥发军票和南方开发金库券,对占领区征收苛捐杂税,排挤当地商业银行,严重破坏了当地原有的财政金融秩序,给东南亚各国人民造成巨大损失。     

宏观经济相互依存与东亚货币合作可行性

东亚地区存在两个层面的宏观经济相互依存。第一个层面是东亚与美国经济的相互依存,第二个层面是东亚区域内部经济的相互依存。全球性金融危机充分体现了东亚和美国之间经济相互依存的不对称性,而这种不对称性是不能够长期持续的,全球性金融危机促使东亚加强区域、国际的经济协调,验证了相互依存理论的合理性。相互依存的东亚需要通过政策的协调解决宏观经济政策的外部性和溢出效应问题,因而东亚地区进行货币合作的可行性较高。     

Sacred groves,sacrifice zones and soy production: globalization,intensification and neo-nature in South America

Soy has become one of the world's most important agroindustrial commodities – serving as the nexus for the production of food, animal feed, fuel and hundreds of industrial products – and South America has become its leading production region. The soy boom on this continent entangles transnational capital and commodity flows with social relations deeply embedded in contested ecologies. In this introduction to the collection, we first describe the ‘neo-nature’ of the soy complex and the political economy of the sector in South America, including the new corporate actors and financial mechanisms that produced some of the world's largest agricultural production companies. We then discuss key environmental debates surrounding soy agribusiness in South America, challenging especially the common arguments that agroindustrial intensification ‘spares land’ for conservation while increasing production to ‘feed the world’. We demonstrate that these arguments hinge on limited data from a peculiar portion of the southern Amazon fringe, and obfuscate through neo-Malthusian concerns multiple other political and ecological problems associated with the sector. Thus, discussions of soy production become intertwined with broader debates about agrarian development, industrialization and modernization. Finally, we briefly outline the contributions in this volume, and identify limitations and fruitful directions for further research.