You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
One of the most comprehensive texts on the political economy of Korea available Up-to-date - goes up to 1999
Since the 1980s the Korean peninsula has been in a state of transition. Forged by the Cold War, the politico-economic systems of North and South Korea as well as the international system of Northeast Asia are in a state of flux. Apart from identifying the main aspects of the transition taking place, this volume explains the sources of change and continuity, and relates the empirical trends from Korea to the contemporary debates in the social sciences.
Blending theory and case studies, this volume explores a vitally important and topical aspect of developmentalism, which remains a focal point for scholarly and policy debates around democracy and social development in the global political economy. Includes case studies from China, Vietnam, India, Brazil, Uganda, South Korea, Ireland, Australia.
In 1987 South Korea began a democratic transition after almost three decades of significant economic development under authoritarian rule. Increased civil unrest caused by dissatisfaction resulted in the regime agreeing to constitutional changes in the summer of 1987. By 1992 the first president without a military background was elected and during his tenure a further deepening of democracy took place. These reforms were instrumental in making it possible that in 1997 for the first time in South Korean history an opposition candidate was elected president. This book examines the initial transition and later attempts at consolidating democracy in South Korea, and argues that although significant progress had been made and a power alternation achieved by late 1997, South Korea could not, by the end of that decade (1987-97), be considered a consolidated democracy.
North Korea is not easily accessible, but boasts some of the most beautiful scenery in the Korean Peninsula, and arguably in East Asia. Travel to and in North Korea is tightly controlled, while political, economic, social and cultural life is played out in terms of a not readily understood philosophy, known as juche.
This volume assesses the surges in the processes of democratisation and economic liberalisation, and the forms they have taken. Diverse country studies are used to advance the reader's understanding of the complexities of these processes.
This book explores the variations in the transformation of the Asian developmental state in South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. Based on an original theory, the author argues that these variations are influenced by two factors: industrial structure and democratic transition, both of which are shaped by the strategic calculations of the ruling elites to maintain power. The theory concerns two concurrent political processes during the state’s development process, namely the emergence of economic interest groups with varying levels of policy constraints on the state; and the process of democratic transition driven by the rise of the middle class. The book will appeal to students and researchers in the fields of Asian politics, development studies, political economy and comparative politics.
Chinese state banks, which were considered technically insolvent in the 1990s, are at present among the largest and most important banks in the world. This book, based on the author’s research and also on his extensive experience of working in Chinese banks, explores how Chinese banks’ technical efficiency and organisational flexibility have been achieved whilst ownership and control by the Chinese Communist Party have continued. The author reveals a distinctly non-Western approach to corporate governance, but one that has nevertheless worked very well.
Corruption is a threat to democracy and economic development in many societies. It arises in the ways people pursue, use and exchange wealth and power, and in the strength or weakness of the state, political and social institutions that sustain and restrain those processes. Differences in these factors, Michael Johnston argues, give rise to four major syndromes of corruption: Influence Markets, Elite Cartels, Oligarchs and Clans, and Official Moguls. In this 2005 book, Johnston uses statistical measures to identify societies in each group, and case studies to show that the expected syndromes do arise. Countries studied include the United States, Japan and Germany (Influence Markets); Italy, Korea and Botswana (Elite Cartels); Russia, the Philippines and Mexico (Oligarchs and Clans); and China, Kenya, and Indonesia (Offical Moguls). A concluding chapter explores reform, emphasising the ways familiar measures should be applied - or withheld, lest they do harm - with an emphasis upon the value of 'deep democratisation'.
Is the process of state building a unilateral, national venture, or is it something more collaborative, taking place in the interstices between adjoining countries? To answer this question, Asymmetrical Neighbors takes a comparative look at the state building process along China, Myanmar, and Thailand's common borderland area. It shows that the variations in state building among these neighboring countries are the result of an interactive process that occurs across national boundaries. Departing from existing approaches that look at such processes from the angle of singular, bounded territorial states, the book argues that a more fruitful method is to examine how state and nation building in...