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This book studies the sources of inequality in contemporary South Korea and the social and political contention this engenders. Korean society is becoming more polarized. Demands for "economic democratization" and a fairer redistribution of wealth occupy centre-stage of political campaigns, debates and discourse. The contributions offer perspectives on this wide-ranging socio-political change by examining the transformation of organized labour, civil society, the emergence of new cleavages in society, and the growing ethnic diversity of Korea's population. Bringing together a team of scholars on Korea's transition and democratization, the story the books tells is one of a society acutely divided by the neo-liberal policies that accompanied and followed the Asian financial crisis. Taken together, the contributions argue that tackling inequalities are challenges that Korean policy-makers can no longer postpone. The solution, however, cannot be imposed, once again, from the top down, but needs to arise from a broader conversation including all segments of Korean society. The book is intended for a readership interested in South Korean politics specifically, and global experiences in transition more generally.

This book examines how inter- and intra-party coalition-building affects governability in South Korea. Focusing on the Kim Dae-jung administration (1998-2003) as a case study in the failure of a government to turn electoral success into stable governability, or ability to implement reform policies, the book's research draws on two bodies of literature which, though focusing on the same dependent variable (cabinet or government stability), have rarely been used in tandem: coalition research on parliamentary systems and studies of divided government in presidential systems. Youngmi Kim argues that a weak institutionalization of the ruling party and the party-system accounts for political instability and inefficient governability in Korea and in doing so her study makes a number of key contributions to the field. Theoretically it proposes a framework which integrates a rationalist approach with one that acknowledges the role of political culture. It further enhances the understanding of factors affecting governability after coalition-building across regime types and aims to build on recent demands for broader cross-regime analysis of minority/divided government and of the determinants of governability. This has important comparative implications as coalition-building within (semi-) presidential systems has occurred in other post-authoritarian contexts. The book finally provides a new dataset which fills a gap in a field where Western cases constitute the main focus of research. The Politics of Coalition in Korea will be of interest to students and scholars of Korean studies, Korean politics, Asian studies and Asian politics.

This book examines how inter- and intra-party coalition-building affects governability in South Korea. Focusing on the Kim Dae-jung administration (1998-2003) as a case study in the failure of a government to turn electoral success into stable governability, or ability to implement reform policies, the book's research draws on two bodies of literature which, though focusing on the same dependent variable (cabinet or government stability), have rarely been used in tandem: coalition research on parliamentary systems and studies of divided government in presidential systems.


Youngmi Kim argues that a weak institutionalization of the ruling party and the party-system accounts for political instability and inefficient governability in Korea and in doing so her study makes a number of key contributions to the field. Theoretically it proposes a framework which integrates a rationalist approach with one that acknowledges the role of political culture. It further enhances the understanding of factors affecting governability after coalition-building across regime types and aims to build on recent demands for broader cross-regime analysis of minority/divided government and of the determinants of governability. This has important comparative implications as coalition-building within (semi-) presidential systems has occurred in other post-authoritarian contexts. The book finally provides a new dataset which fills a gap in a field where Western cases constitute the main focus of research.


The Politics of Coalition in Korea will be of interest to students and scholars of Korean studies, Korean politics, Asian studies and Asian politics.


Youngmi Kim is Assistant Professor at the Departments of Public Policy, and International Relations and European Studies at Central European University, Budapest, Hungary.

The European Union (EU) is one of the most influential supranational unions of these centuries. The number of the countries which are already part of the EU or are interested in EU-Membership is growing constantly. Finland and Norway are the two Nordic countries who show different opinions about EU- Membership: Finland has been a member of the EU since 1995 and implemented national laws to meet the EU-Standard while Norway isn't still a part of the EU and doesn't show strong interest in becoming a member of the Union, but cooperates partially with the EU. ; Avrupa BirIiği, Avrupa Kömür ve Çelik Topluluğu olarak ilk ortaya çıktığından beri benzersiz bir ekonomik ve politik varlık oIarak pek çok araştırmacının dik- katini ve ilgisini çekti. Federalizm, Neo- Fonksiyonalizm, Hükümetlerarasıcılık, Liberal - Hükümetlerarasıcılık, Çok- Düzeyli Yönetim gibi teoriler ve daha pek çoğu Avrupa Birliği'nin doğasını onun gelecekteki yönünü de ele alarak, tanımlamaya ve açıklamaya çalıştı.

The 2012 parliamentary and presidential elections in South Korea ensured political continuity as the conservative Saenuri Party (New Frontier, NFP) won, albeit narrowly, on both occasions. The previous local elections in 2010 and the Spring 2011 mayoral by-elections in the capital city of Seoul had shown high levels of dissatisfaction with the Lee Myung-bak administration (20082013). As a result, the victory of the Saenuri Party in April and of presidential candidate Park Geun-hye in December caught many observers of Korean politics by surprise. The electoral campaigns were marked by calls by both political sides for greater 'economic democratization', a more critical stance towards the Chaebols (the large industrial conglomerates, major actors in the national and global economy) and a narrowing of the socioeconomic polarization within Korean society. 2012 was also a peculiar year in Korean politics; as presidency and legislatures have different tenures (four and five years respectively) they are held in the same year only once every two decades. It was widely expected that the April legislative elections would provide an indication of the national mood before the December presidential contest. [Copyright Elsevier Ltd.]

AbstractThis paper examines the internal dynamics of Korean political parties to understand why the minority coalition government of Kim Dae-jung suffered from political stalemate or deadlocks in the legislature. It shows that a focus on the size of the government in terms of a majority status in the legislature does not offer a convincing explanation of why the Kim Dae-jung administration slid towards ungovernability. Instead better insights come from an analysis of party organization, an aspect of party politics rarely examined through in-depth analysis. The paper shows that in terms of the key dimensions of organization (leadership type, factionalism, funding, linkage role) Korean political parties fail to connect citizens to the political system.

Abstract
The mental health crisis among college students has become one of the most pressing issues, especially during the pandemic. Researchers discuss food insecurity as one of the leading causes of mental distress. The onset and continued impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic appear to compound food insecurity, economic hardship, and mental health. This study aims to understand the mental health of college students in relation to food insecurity and financial struggles to meet basic living expenses and debts during the pandemic. Authors collected survey data from college students in a public urban university in 2020 and conducted a multiple regression (N = 375). Evidence indicated that mental health became significantly worse after the pandemic onset. Mental health was significantly associated with food insecurity and multiple economic hardships, controlling for prepandemic mental health and other characteristics. The findings affirm that food insecurity and dire levels of economic hardship have devastating effects on the mental health of young adults. The article highlights the long-term implications of mental health affected by basic needs insecurity and the emergent need for integrated services and university–community partnerships.