Unfinished modernity or another modernity? The South Korean case

South Korea has experienced “compressed capitalist development” over the last five decades, characterized by unprecedented levels of industrialization and democratization, with other distinctive features. This development experience causes some scholars to view the country as a site for a new modernity, following the Western prototype. Concerning the underlying nature of emerging modernity in South Korea, however, there have been controversial insights: some scholars argue that the country is now experiencing a Western type of modernity, and others refute this, saying that it has not at all been modernized. This paper investigates the dynamics and contradictions of capitalist development in South Korea from a perspective of vertical modernization. It considers the origins, process, and outcomes of modernization mainly in terms of democracy, economic growth, and welfare. We assume that there are “different sites and forms of modernity” in the world, and that South Korea would be a good candidate to examine for non-Western modernity. Yet it is our contention that the country’s modernity has been distorted and unbalanced in the development of society, culture, politics, and economy. Historically, South Korea has progressed through traditional unmodernity, colonial undermodernity, and Western modernity. A clear examination of the country’s development experience reveals to no small degree the complex nature of modernity, in that tradition, modernity, and postmodernity coexist in the present time. We conclude that South Korean modernity is an incomplete project still in progress.     

Understanding the cultural adaptation of foreign wives of South Korean men

‘International marriage’ has increased within rural areas in South Korea. As an increasing number of rural women move to urban areas, men are left facing the challenges of finding appropriate spouses. This issue stimulated support for ‘international marriages’ by the Korean government. A review was carried out of the literature of foreign wives' cultural adaptation in South Korea using the ecological systems. While foreign wives have escaped the hardships of lower economic status in their home country, they often face new challenges in South Korea. The article recommends that one-stop multicultural services are needed to address the cultural issues facing non-Korean women.     

Economic crisis and social policy reform in Korea

The economic crisis that broke out in Korea in December 1997 has had a chilling impact on social development in the country. Today unemployment is the highest that Korea has experienced in the past thirty years. This paper aims to examine the impact of the economic crisis on social development and the role of public policy to mitigate the problems caused by the crisis. The economic crisis has hit vulnerable groups harder, increased the proportion of part-time and daily workers, and reversed the trend of steady improvement of income distribution. The economic crisis along with the trend of aging population, globalization, and competition calls for an expanded role of social policy, which the Korean government has neglected for a long time. The main targets of social policy reform in Korea include the expansion of government programs and safety nets for the unemployed and redesigning the national pension and health insurance scheme to provide adequate income security as well as to improve the system sustainability.     

文化对韩国经济发展的影响

韩国在经济建设方面取得了显著成绩。文化因素为韩国经济发展提供了有力的支撑。中国儒家文化的深远影响,政府对文化建设高度重视,东西方文化兼容并蓄不仅使韩国文化保持了自身的特点,同时也形成了韩国经济的深层底蕴。韩国政府重视加大对教育的投入,实施教育立法,重视职业技术教育、推进教育国际化。政府十分重视文化产业的开发,始终把文化产业当做经济发展的增长点。     

The Dynamics of Welfare Policy‐Making in South Korea: Social Movements as Policy Entrepreneurs*

This paper analyzes the role of social movements in the creation and evolution of a welfare state in South Korea. We begin with a theoretical overview of the existing works on policy change, highlighting concepts such as ideas, policy paradigms, and windows of opportunity. We then examine state institutions, hegemonic policy paradigms, and the specific dynamics of welfare policy‐making during South Korea’s authoritarian period (1961–1987). Next, characterizing the democratic transition in 1987 and the economic crisis of 1997–1998 as “windows of opportunity,” we probe how social movements emerged as “policy entrepreneurs” and played crucial roles in building welfare institutions and promoting welfare policies. In particular, we focus on the role of social movements in legislating the National Basic Livelihood Security Act in 1999 and consolidating fragmented health insurance systems in 2000. We conclude that social movements in democratized South Korea have assumed the role of policy entrepreneurs, filling the vacuum left by the central government and elite bureaucrats in the field of social welfare policy‐making.     

限制与反限制:韩日半导体贸易摩擦中的双边博弈

2019年7月1日,日本政府的经济产业省宣布日韩两国间的信任很大程度上受到了严重损害,同时正式发表只能修改对韩方的出口管理规定。然后,自同年7月4日起,针对半导体等对韩国主要出口产品的生产过程中必需的超精密化学原料——光刻胶、氟化氢、氟聚酰亚胺三种产品开始实行新出口限制。据部分专家们的主张,日本政府通过新出口限制措施对韩国的半导体大型企业进行一种“牵制”或“报复”,这种分析和判断确实有些说服力。但是,这种分析与事实不符,因为这次日本政府做出新出口限制措施,究其原因在于2018年10月30日韩国大法院的判决,并非是因为韩国半导体大型企业的崛起。本文将对韩日两国半导体贸易摩擦中的双边博弈进行深入研究。     

19世纪60-80年代俄国境内朝鲜移民法律地位形成的中朝因素探析

19世纪60-80年代,随着俄国积极吸引劳动力开发远东政策的推行,朝鲜移民数量逐年增加,其法律地位亟待确立.在19世纪下半叶东北亚各国利益角逐与权力制衡的背景下,俄国朝鲜移民的法律地位问题不仅关乎俄国自身大计,更牵涉了中朝利益.通过对解密的俄罗斯帝国对外政策档案及相关原始资料的分析,我们认为,中朝两国对俄国积极安置朝鲜移民政策进行了全力抵制,不仅影响了俄国境内朝鲜移民法律地位的形成,还阻止了俄国东北亚战略计划的实施.在中朝两国的反对下,俄国仅部分地确立了其境内朝鲜移民的合法地位,这大大限制了俄国远东地区的朝鲜劳动力数量,破坏了俄国利用朝鲜移民开发远东,并以此为契机渗入朝鲜、角逐东北亚的战略计划.     

New Labour, Work and the Family

New Labour has put support for the family at the core of its notion of the “strong community”. Across a range of policy areas the Labour government can be seen to be developing a direct and explicit family policy. But what kind of community is the government trying to shape by these policies? On the one hand, Labour appears to support the family as the basis of a more moral, dutiful and cohesive community. On the other hand, the government has given weight to policies that support social inclusion in the community through paid work. This paper examines whether there is a tension in Labour’s social policies between its emphasis on the importance of stable family life and the primacy given to paid work. Are critics like Ruth Levitas right when they argue that the government’s emphasis on paid work devalues, and is unsupportive of, unpaid work, especially caring for children and other family members? Alternatively, can this combination of communitarianisms—community as “stable family” and community as “paid work”—be seen to be marking out some “third way” on the family? We shall show that different aspects of the government’s family policies reflect different perspectives and policy agendas within New Labour and third‐way thinking more broadly. And while recognizing the tensions between work and the family, we shall suggest that they are often overstated and fail to give sufficient weight to the complementary aspects of Labour’s welfare reforms.     

A Century of Korean Narrative in Chinese Literature

东亚睦邻关系源远流长,近百年来却遭到严峻的挑战。在民族国家的多事之秋,中国文学和中华民族一道承担苦难,思考出路,在关注自己启蒙、救亡、独立和振兴的同时,也关注对自己的命运发生过深刻影响的国际力量,对朝鲜半岛民族国家的关注和认知具有特殊的文化情感和命运体悟。一百多年来,中国文学对朝鲜的认知经历了四个阶段：以朝鲜的亡国为鉴镜,反省危机四伏的中国现状;引朝鲜人民为共同抗敌、休戚与共的战友;在南北朝鲜分裂的局面下,引北方为战友使南方处于缺席状态;在“华风”与“韩流”的互动中,把文学对韩国的认知推向穿透历史、牵连血性的深度。

关键词: 中国文学?朝鲜叙事?鉴镜?互动交流

The harmonious relationship among East Asian countries has a very long history. However, it has faced serious challenges in the past hundred years. In these eventful years for our nation, Chinese literature, like the Chinese people, has endured hardships and pondered ways of extricating the country from its malaise. In addition to being concerned over China's enlightenment, salvation, independence and rejuvenation, writers have also paid considerable attention to important international forces that had a strong influence on their country's fate. Concern over and understanding of the Korean nation had a particular emotional charge and relevance to their own fate. Over the course of a century, Chinese literature's awareness of Korea went through four stages. In the first, Korea's loss of independence served as a mirror of China's own dangerous position, menaced on all sides; in the second, the Korean people were seen as comrades‐in‐arms combating foreign foes; in the third, when the Korean Peninsula was divided, North Koreans continued to be regarded as comrades‐in‐arms while South Korea was not acknowledged; and in the final stage, amidst the interaction between “China style” and the “Korean wave,” Chinese literature's awareness of Korea expanded through a penetrating appreciation of Korean history involving deep ties of courage and uprightness.     

Productive welfare: Korea's third way?

How can the various pressures of economic globalisation and changes in the established welfare systems of the industrialised nations inform the development of the Korean welfare state? As the twenty‐first century dawns, Korea is confronted with a serious dilemma: How to adapt to globalisation and survive under worldwide competition and at the same time construct an effective egalitarian welfare state? The objective of this paper is to explore the future directions for the Korean social welfare system as it adjusts to economic globalisation. As it seeks a course between the social democratic welfare state model and the rising tide of the neo‐liberal welfare state, we pose the question: Is there a ‘third way’ for Korea? In trying to discern where the Korean welfare state is headed, it may be helpful to understand where it has come from and how it compares with the established welfare states in the industrialised nations.     

Multiple Social Networks in Grassroots Governance in Rural China*

Existing research on grassroots rural governance in China adopts a network perspective to explore the role of traditional social vehicles including clans, clan clusters and popular beliefs in improving village governance. However, most of this research has concentrated on analyzing the way in which horizontal network relationships lead to effective village governance. It has thus to some extent neglected the basic reality of the overlapping interconnections between the “top-down” administrative system and the informal structure of village governance. In fact, an analysis that proceeds from the features of the government’s own organizational network, the social structure of the village itself and the position of its elites in order to focus on modes of interaction within the village under the intermixture of (formal) system design and (informal) social relations, shows that differences in the composition of the government’s promotional networks resulting from the traits of key officials affect the speed of policy dissemination as well as the government’s mode of interaction with the village elites. Moreover, differences in these modes of interaction further influence the subsequent operation of self-organization based on social traditions (“filial piety” or “morality”). At the same time, structural elements, including the economic and social relations of the village itself, determine whether self-organization will improve the quality of governance in the long term. This finding can serve as a reflection on and critique of the theories of “strong government” and “tradition” current in academia.     

A Confucian War over Childcare? Practice and Policy in Childcare and Their Implications for Understanding the Korean Gender Regime

We ask about the development of childcare policies in Korea and what these mean for our understanding of the gender assumptions of Korean governments. Women's labour market participation has been increasing rapidly, with married women now much more likely to be in the labour market. The provision and regulation around support for women's employment, and especially for mothers’ employment, is a key issue and problem for Korean women and for governments. A number of policies give the impression that the Korean government is moving rapidly towards a policy for reconciling work and family based on a dual‐earner model of the family. But we argue that a close inspection of these policies suggests that the state is still playing a residual role, legislation is not effectively implemented, and government is giving way to the private sector and to the family in responsibility for childcare. Mothers’ accounts of their lives centre on a childcare war played out beneath the apparently harmonious Confucian surface, with resisting husbands supported by powerful mothers‐in‐law, and daily struggles over the management of services. The Korean government and its policy‐makers, far from moving rapidly towards a dual‐earner model of the family, are still rooted in Confucian ideals.     

东北再振兴:单一结构城市转型之道

单一结构城市为何存在?如何实现单一结构城市的可持续发展?这是经济新常态背景下东北地区亟待解决的重大现实问题之一。目前,学术界对单一结构城市暂无明确界定。文章试图对此加以阐释,并分析其数量众多的存在于东北地区的一般性及特殊性规律。面对东北地区单一结构城市经济创造力不强、社会支撑力薄弱、环境承载力脆弱等现实问题,政府应以科学发展观为统领,积极推进改革开放创新,将宏观区域政策设计的共性指导与"一市一策"的个性化探索有机结合、一般性政策指引与精细化政策工具有机结合、政府的政策支持与市场化项目运作相结合,积极打造"经济创造力、社会承载力、环境承载力"三位一体的城市发展新模式,实现单一结构城市可持续发展。     

A Study of the Development of Alcohol Use Disorder in Muslim Immigrant Workers in Korea

Abstract

This study examines the process by which Muslim immigrant workers, prohibited by their religion from drinking, develop alcohol use disorder when working in Korea. Participants were seven male immigrant workers who have lived in Korea for 6–10?years and all experienced a change in immigrant status, shifting from registered to unregistered. Utilizing grounded theory devised by Strauss and Corbin, 87 concepts, 24 subcategories, and 10 categories were derived as a result. By converting these categories into a paradigm model, participants moved through stages of “self-monitoring,” “confusion,” “self-despair,” and “daily collapse” as they developed alcohol use disorder, and began to take on an existence as drifters, not settling into life in Korea. Their “learning experiences of drinking to survive turning into experiences of causing social death” is considered a core category. The study’s results suggest that a rehabilitation program for immigrant workers needs to be developed wherein the program not only enables them to reflect on their current existence but also allows them to develop specific coping skills. Future research should be broadened to consider social support mechanisms and viewpoints of other people, including female immigrant workers, and local community members in close contact with Muslim immigrant workers.     

Social protection in the Republic of Korea: Social insurance and moral hazard

Abstract As reported in numerous studies, the system of social protection in the Republic of Korea long remained underdeveloped because of the priority given instead to economic growth. The past few years have seen major changes, however. The government decided to apply the theory of “productive welfare”, thereby committing itself to introducing a system of universal statutory social insurance which is intended to set the seal on a new social compact and which may, ultimately, impact on the model of socioeconomic development itself. This article outlines the recent changes in insurance against sickness, unemployment and old age and goes on to describe the moral hazard facing the new system of social insurance and the need for a form of joint management in order to minimize this hazard.     

Strategic Government Spending in South Korea and Taiwan: Lessons for Emergent Democracies*

Objectives. How is government spending used strategically in South Korea and Taiwan? As nations generally considered to have weathered democratization, government allocations in South Korea and Taiwan are instructive on how spending may be used strategically without undermining democratization. Methods. The similar sociocultural, historical, political, and economic experiences of the two nations underlie a most‐similar‐systems approach to study how their differences influence diversity in strategic spending and, correspondingly, political outcomes such as size of the government party in the legislature. This article evaluates defense and civilian expenditures for South Korea and Taiwan from 1975 to 2006. Results. Three results are interesting. First, different elections—legislative elections in South Korea, presidential elections in Taiwan—lead to increases in spending. Second, in both nations, defense spending increases in election years but not social spending; however, defense spending benefits the government‐party in the legislature in South Korea but not in Taiwan. Third, when the strategic uses of spending are accounted for, democratization does not directly affect allocations. Conclusions. These results explicate that government spending is a viable resource for party building in new democracies; however, the results also underscore that governing parties in new democracies benefit from spending only insofar as it is used to build the nation's or party's strengths—not undermine the opposition—under competitive elections.     

Social Policies for the Elderly in the Republic of Korea and Japan: A Comparative Perspective*

The Republic of Korea (South Korea) and Japan are highly industrialized and modern nations which are both influenced by the Confucian tradition of respect for the elderly and family responsibility for the care of aging parents. In both countries the proportion of the elderly population is increasing. Japan, since the end of World War II, has utilized its government bureaucracy to help develop the social welfare system and to formulate social policies and programs for the elderly. Japan's tradition of samurai Confucianism is congruent with the commitment of the Japanese government to such social development as a matter of national policy. The Republic of Korea has not assigned a comprehensive planning role to its government bureaucracy. Lacking the mix of industrial/post-industrial infrastructure of Japan and not yet faced with the immediacy of a very large elderly population, the Republic of Korea's government has developed its social policies for the elderly in a more incremental manner, usually emphasizing small scale and piecemeal initiatives. With respect to social support, it has emphasized voluntary family efforts as congruent with the Korean (and Chinese) variant of Confucianism. This paper will compare and contrast these different approaches.     

Ageing Society Issues in Korea*

Korean society is facing unprecedentedly higher population ageing, particularly in the first half of the 21st century. The implications of population ageing have a much wider effect than the welfare of the elderly. From a broader and long‐term perspective, understanding population ageing may require a new paradigm. Korea has attempted to model its policies for ageing society on those of advanced welfare states, but as these no longer seem viable, Korean policy‐makers are searching for more effective and efficient measures to deal with its rapid ageing population. Reflecting a broader and long‐term perspective, the Korean government recently produced a comprehensive national policy plan to deal with the consequences of rapid population ageing. This article outlines the phenomenon of population ageing in Korea and the recent development of national policies for population ageing, describing the Korean comprehensive national policy plan for responding to it and examining major issues and problems related to developing and implementing the plan. This article finally suggests a new, age‐integrated social system approach to an ageing society.     

The role of identity in South Korea’s policies towards Japan

This paper asks why South Korea’s relations with Japan is so vulnerable to disputes over history in the post-Cold War period. It argues that South Korea’s identities vis-à-vis Japan and North Korea respectively conflict with each other and leads to inconsistent policy towards Japan that hovers between cooperation and discord. By analyzing South Korea’s relations with Japan as well as its policies and behavior in the post-Cold War period, this paper aims to show how identity factor affects a state’s foreign policy and behavior towards other states. In doing so, it questions the rationality assumption of state behavior in IR and offers alternative explanations on how to better understand “emotional” foreign policies.     

试论费孝通的“乡寰视野”

本文根据费孝通的有关理论、观点提出“乡寰视野”、“劦业乡”两个概念，尝试以此来诠释费孝通关于中国城乡社会发展与世界经济之“休戚与共”的理论和实践活动。文章阐述了费孝通“乡寰视野”观的渊源、演进；从概念结构上解明“乡寰视野”中的“乡”和“寰”，以及“劦业乡”各自的内涵构成；通过对映衬费孝通“乡寰视野”历史意识的理论梳理，以及对费孝通晚年就“乡”“寰”关系问题所作阐述的把握，试图以更具综合性的视域对费孝通的这一重要思想作出较为系统的学理解释。文章最后指出，费孝通倡导“文化自觉”体现出了更为宽广、更为仁至的人文关怀的情愫。“乡寰视野”中的纯真的愿景，是“‘美好社会’的意念”。