Suchergebnisse

As governments pay increasing attention to global competition in high-technology industries and attempt to shape it to their advantage, high-technology trade is becoming increasingly politicized, with frequent international disputes. Conflict is not, however, the only trend in high-technology trade. The author explores theoretical justifications and empirical evidence for the claim that multinational firms employ strategic alliances to defuse protectionist threats to their export markets. (DÜI-Sen)

South Korea has emerged as a new middle power that plays a significant role in a wide range of important global issue areas and supports liberal international order with its leadership diplomacy. Even though regional challenges will continue to demand large foreign policy resources including time, human resources, and budget, the middle power orientation of South Korean foreign policy behaviour and strategy—for example, multilateralism, the rule of law, and promotion of cooperation and compromise—will remain in place even in the conduct of regional foreign policy. This optimism is based on the fact that South Korea is a middle power not only in global governance but also in the East Asian region. Even on the issue of North Korea's nuclear weapons, the most important foreign policy challenge of the day, the South has accepted the regionalization of the issue and, over time, its middle power role. It has relied on the middle power strategy of mobilizing international pressure on the North rather than deploying and strengthening its unilateral options such as the use of force or massive economic aid. In order to fully realize the promise and potential of middle power diplomacy, however, South Korea must make strong efforts to alleviate structural constraints on a middle power strategy. First, Korean leaders should undertake a full-scale campaign to de-nationalize Korean education and, thus, Korean foreign policy orientations. Second, a strong domestic consensus should emerge giving the national interest precedence over group interests when dealing with foreign policy challenges. Finally, political leaders and diplomats must create new opportunities in global governance and deliver tangible national benefits through middle power diplomacy. Middle power diplomacy, like all foreign policy strategies, will not be sustainable without strong domestic support; and domestic support cannot be built on goodwill and commitment to universal values alone.

In the context of the North Korean nuclear crisis, particularly following the North's Oct 2006 nuclear detonation, it is argued that there are at least four schools of thought that may determine the security policy of the next South Korean government: liberal nationalism, liberal multilateralism, realist nationalism, & realist pro-Americanism. Differences & commonalities among these four schools are explored before discussing which school is more likely to ensure long-term security for South Korea. Political approaches that proponents must undertake to shape South Korea's post-Roh security policy are outlined. Adapted from the source document.

This article argues that political gridlock in Korea was responsible for the defeat of many economic reform efforts before the economic crisis. Successful and timely economic reforms would have made the Korean economy less vulnerable to the economic crisis. The persistence of political gridlock can be attributed to the immature or unconsolidated nature of Korean democracy, including weak democratic institutions and traditional political values and practices. With a model of policy gridlock in the context of the Korean decision-making process, the article attempts to link Korean political culture and institutions to the occurrence of policy gridlock.