Ideas,interests and practical authority in reform politics: decentralization reform in South Korea in the 2000s

This paper explains the reason why the hitherto statist country, Korea, has carried out significant decentralization since the 2000s. In explaining the motivation for decentralization, extant literature has focused on the role of parties, bureaucratic politics, democratization, or territorial interests. Yet there is still limited explanation of how the decentralization laws in Korea could be successfully passed in the 2000s, while cental stakeholders still persisted. By tracing the process of decentralization reform in the 2000s, this article demonstrates how structural factors created favourable circumstances and discursive background for institutional change, and how the idea of decentralization, through the idea diffusion mechanism, gave directions for central decision makers to produce a specific path of reform strategies. It also pays attention to the formation of ‘practical authority’ for reform politicians that made it possible to overcome obdurate resistance from central bureaucrats and politicians.     

The past or the politics of the present? Dealing with the Japanese occupation of South Korea

Why do historical legacies continue to burden politics in East Asia? According to major schools of thought on collective memory, perceptions of historical injustice may be determined by the past (traditionalism), the present (presentism) or the interplay of both. This paper assesses the validity of these theories by examining the effect of transitional justice on perceptions of wrongdoers. Transitional justice offers a unique substrate for exploring competing theories of collective memory as it represents a contemporary process for dealing with the past. Were transitional justice to transform perceptions of wrongdoers, it would provide evidence supporting presentism. This hypothesis was tested using a survey of 640 adults from the Gallup Korea online panel. South Korea was selected as a research site because the legacy of Japan's occupation remains unresolved. A Tobit analysis supported presentist approaches although, as traditionalists claim, perceptions of wrongdoers were resistant to change. The organic nature of collective memory suggests that perceptions can only be transformed by comprehensive transitional justice.     

Public opinion,social cohesion,and the politics of immigration in South Korea

This article analyses public opinion in order to explore the politics of immigration in South Korea. It argues that there are divergent views about immigration and the obligations of the host society to accommodate migrants. Younger, better-educated citizens are representative of a majority that has a generally positive view of immigrants and immigration. A sizeable minority of older and less well-educated citizens, however, is warier of immigration and its effects on South Korean society. Men were more likely than women to have a positive view of immigration, but the differences along gender lines were small. The article also finds that attitudes towards immigration depend to a significant degree on how migrants are described. It thereby highlights the possibility that South Korea’s leaders could use immigration for political gain while also seeking to attract new migrants in order to resolve the country’s economic and demographic problems.     

The transnational state and the BRICS: a global capitalism perspective

It is commonplace for observers to see the increasingly prominent role of the BRICS in international economic and political affairs as a Southern challenge to global capitalism and the power of the core Trilateral nation-states. Extant accounts remain mired in a tenacious realist debate over the extent to which the BRICS are challenging the prevailing international order. I suggest that we shift the paradigmatic focus in discussion of the BRICS phenomenon towards a global capitalism perspective that breaks with such a nation-state/inter-state framework. Global integration and transnational capitalist class formation has advanced significantly in the BRICS. BRICS protagonism is aimed less at challenging the prevailing international order than at opening up space in the global system for more extensive integration and a less asymmetric global capitalism. The article examines agricultural subsidies, US–China relations and international trade agreements as empirical reference points in arguing that the concept of the transnational state provides a more satisfying explanatory framework for understanding the BRICS phenomenon than the variety of realist approaches. By misreading the BRICS critical scholars and the global left run the risk of becoming cheerleaders for repressive states and transnational capitalists in the South. We would be better off by a denouement of the BRICS states and siding with ‘BRICS from below’ struggles of popular and working class forces.     

China’s development: a new development paradigm?

The emergence of China as a development actor across the global South has raised significant questions regarding the extent to which the country presents new development opportunities to its compatriots in the South. My aim is to reflect on and parse out the experiences and policies that have shaped China’s development to assess how it can inform the field of development studies. I argue that we need to critically engage in China’s development process, as China’s own development has led to the emergence of many more problems than solutions, ranging from increasing inequality to exclusionary development practices pertaining to ethnic minorities.     

“Journalism ideology” and its influence on the producers of Radio Sonder Grense radio current affairs

In the same way that people can have a political or a personal ideology, their professional identities and how they practise a craft or an occupation may be influenced by what can be labelled as a “professional ideology”. Through conducting interviews with the producers of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) Afrikaans radio programmes Monitor, Spektrum and Naweek-Aktueel, this article reports on research which showed that there is indeed such a thing as a “journalism ideology”. The interviews focused on how “internal influences” – such as a journalist's background and training, newsroom routines – and “external influences” – such as the audience – influenced the decisions they made in choosing news stories and producing content. This “journalism ideology” influences the producers and in turn the news content of these current affairs programmes that are listened to daily by almost two million listeners. The conclusion drawn from the study is that, although the participants’ “journalism ideology” largely determines the news stories for their programmes, structural forces, newsroom routines and organisational constraints often dictate their actions. Finally, although all the participants saw themselves as “watchdogs of democracy”, internal pressures within the SABC could endanger that role.     

Always-Available Communication and Technological Distractions: Technology Use,Texting and Driving

Digital mobile communication tools have become cultural artefacts for everyday sociability. As technology use becomes pervasive in society, it brings many advantages for everyday social relations, but these benefits come in tandem with some disadvantages and unintended consequences. One such consequence is the tendency for people to be distracted due to technology use while driving. The focus of this study was to explore the prevalence of texting, making phone calls, and other technology use, such as adjusting or tuning dashboard music players or radios, while driving. Through a survey of drivers, roadside ethnographic observations of drivers, and interviews with traffic officers in Polokwane, Limpopo, South Africa,, the study broadly examined the social and cultural impact of technology and mobility with specific focus on technology use and distracted driving. The findings revealed a prevalence for texting and driving: 60 per cent of the participants reported that they have sent a text while driving; and 88 per cent acknowledged that they have seen drivers texting while driving. The study is significant considering the limited research on this social issue in South Africa, and it is also relevant considering that technology use and distraction portends the potential for causing road accidents.     

B&R,AIIB: Opportunities for Enhancing FDI in South Asia

Implementation of China's Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road (B&R) initiative and the advent of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) have redirected attention to infrastructure building in economic development.The domestically driven B&R policy is rewriting the geoeconomic and geopolitical map of Eurasia,while AIIB catalyzes a positive change in the dynamics of international development cooperation.They provide opportunities for South Asia which has economic potential but limited foreign investment inflow thus far.     

南海“安全共同体”构建的理论探讨

南海地区国家如何在主权纠纷未获解决的情况下开展区域安全治理及实现南海和平、稳定,这至今仍是一个尚未找到答案的问题。南海地区现有的区域安全治理理念、制度安排及其实践效果与地区国家实现南海和平、稳定的共同愿景之间还有不少落差。归根结底,这与中国、东盟与美国之间存在的结构性问题及由此产生的互信不足、缺失有关。南海区域安全治理的核心内容应聚焦于中国、东盟与美国之间存在的结构性问题及互信关系的建立,而致力于缓解与消除地区行为体"恐惧"心理与建立身份、角色认同的"安全共同体"在理论上有可能为实现南海安全塑造一条理想的路径。南海"安全共同体"在理论上虽与"安全共同体"相通,但它不强调一个集体身份的建立,而寻求在地区现有安全态势基础上致力于中国、东盟与美国等主要行为体之间信任关系与身份、角色认同的确立。惟此,南海地区建立"安全共同体"的标志———"和平变革可靠性预期"的条件才有可能得以成熟。     

中国南海安全战略思维:内涵、演变与建构

学术界关于南海争端与中国国家安全的研究,大多基于对象国政策、南海地区权力格局以及中国政策的动态分析,缺乏对于中国南海战略思维和政策的系统梳理。中国南海战略思维包括搁置、大局和寻求共识等多维度的内容,同时对于争端本质倾向于和平的看法。它经历了从基于战略理性的单边默契到文化认同的单边默契的演进,体现了螺旋式变化的特点。中国南海战略思维的固化受到特定政策效果的正反馈、道德正义性以及政治文化习惯等因素的影响,而在力量与实力对比发生变化,外生环境的震动与刺激和领导集体的战略决心增强的情况下,它会发生积极的调整与变化。剖析中国南海战略思维的内涵、特性及其演变,能为理解中国外交的微观基础以及处理好中国的相关争端提供理论启示和实践价值。