(The) ROK-US alliance cohesion under the Roh and Lee administrations

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Under the Lee Myung-bak administration, the ROK-US alliance is often praised stronger than before. However, there is little academic study conducted to prove the rhetoric, and it is often assumed that it is a mere repercussion from the notoriously strained relations with the US during the immediately preceding Roh Moo-hyun administration. Therefore, this paper aims at testing whether the ROK-US alliance in the Lee presidency has become stronger than that in the Roh administration by performing academic analysis on a directional change of alliance strength measured in terms of alliance cohesion. To analyze alliance cohesion, four conventional indicators are employed and categorized into attitudinal and behavioral ones; threat perception and coherence in interest are the two attitudinal indicators while institutionalization and military jointness are defined as behavioral indicators. In addition, two of contemporary indicators, shared values and equitable partnership, are newly introduced in consideration of developments in the 21st-century alliance, and these six indicators forge a new model of alliance cohesion analysis. Through this new model, the study finally demonstrates that the overall cohesion level of the ROK-US alliance under the Lee administration is higher than that of the Roh administration, and it is largely due to differences in attitudinal indicators, rather than behavioral indicators. As defying the usual assumption that behaviors/actions, rather than ideational factors, bring immediate and manifest changes, it is concluded that attitudinal aspect plays a critical role in determining alliance cohesion in the case of the ROK-US alliance, and especially, attitudes and resolve of national leaders influence most. In this respect, facing change of both South Korean and US political leaderships in 2012 and the dissolution of CFC in 2015, the future of now-strong ROK-US alliance is about to hit the turbulent road ahead.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• I. Introduction
• II. Literature Review
• 1. The Concept of Alliance
• 2. Alliance Theories
• III. Theoretical Framework
• 1. Research Design
• 2. Conventional Indicators of Alliance Cohesion
• 3. Contemporary Indicators of Alliance Cohesion
• IV. Evolution of the ROK-US Alliance
• 1. History of the ROK-US Alliance
• 2. Alliance of the 21st Century
• V. A Directional Change of the ROK-US Alliance Cohesion
• 1. Change in Behavioral Indicators
• 2. Change in Attitudinal Indicators
• 3. Change in Alliance Cohesion
• VI. Conclusion
• Bibliography