Does liberalism destroy democracy: critiques from the left and right?

Min-hyeok Kim 서울대학교행정대학원 2019 Asian Journal of Political Science Vol.27 No.1

Nepal, federalism and participatory constitution-making: deliberative democracy and divided societies

Michael G. Breen 서울대학교행정대학원 2018 Asian Journal of Political Science Vol.26 No.3

In 2008, Nepal reintroduced democracy and elected a Constituent Assembly whose first act was to declare a secular federal democratic republic. The Assembly was tasked with engaging the public in a participatory and deliberative process as it drafted, debated and decided a new federal constitution. This article asks how evaluates how deliberative the process was in practice, and whether the deliberative components influenced decision-making. It demonstrates that, although the political parties assumed the primary role of negotiating the constitution, deliberation occurred at the local level and through the Assembly’s structures and systems. After more than seven years of once polarized debate about whether ethnicity or territory should be the basis of the new federal provinces, the political elite reached a decision that was consistent with the deliberated outcomes that permeated upwards. The experience of Nepal’s constitution-making process demonstrates that deliberative practices, in combination with consociational features, can be effective in a divided society and regarding fundamental constitutional issues, ultimately moderating extreme positions, influencing key decisions and building popular support for their adoption. The Nepali experience also provides lessons for Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and other countries, which are embarking on similar processes towards federal constitutional change.

The ‘-Pacific’ part of ‘Asia-Pacific’: Oceanic diplomacy in the 2017 treaty for the prohibition of nuclear weapons

Matthew Bolton 서울대학교행정대학원 2018 Asian Journal of Political Science Vol.26 No.3

The 2017 Treatyfor the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) was negotiated at the UN over the objections of nuclear-armed and -allied states and established a global categorical ban on nuclear weapons framed in terms of humanitarianism, human rights and environmentalism. The TPNW also placed ‘positive obligations’ on states to assist victims of nuclear weapons use and testing and remediate contaminated environments. States and NGOs from the Pacific region advocated for a strong treaty text, particularly its positive obligations. They were influenced by the region’s history as a site of nuclear weapons testing in Marshall Islands, Kiribati and French Polynesia/Te Ao Maohi; the 1985 South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone’s precedent; and earlier diplomatic efforts and activism linking denuclearization with decolonization. In doing so, Pacific and other formerly colonized states flipped the ‘standard of civilization’ script embedded in humanitarian disarmament law and applied it to their former colonizers. The paper demonstrates the agency of small states—the ‘-Pacific’ part of ‘Asia-Pacific’—in multilateral policymaking on peace and security, often overlooked in international relations scholarship. It draws on my participant observation in the Nobel Peace Prize-winning advocacy of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) during the TPNW negotiations.

Iran v ‘the international community’: a postcolonial analysis of the negotiations on the Iranian nuclear program

Shampa Biswas 서울대학교행정대학원 2018 Asian Journal of Political Science Vol.26 No.3

Thispaperundertakesananalysis of theunderlyingpresuppositions and terms of the international negotiations on the Iranian nuclear programme as covered in the mainstream Western media during 2013–14. Examining the deep-seated Orientalist presuppositions underlying the civilizational narrative through which the rivalry between the US/West and Iran is described, the paper argues that the notions of ‘nuclear responsibility’, ‘international community’, and ‘global peace’ generated by such representations obscure global power and hierarchy. In effect, such a discourse ensures that Iran remains caught in the spotlight of dangerous nuclear transgressions while the nuclear programme of a normative West is rendered unremarkable.

Decolonizing arms control: the Asian African Legal Consultative Committee and the legality of nuclear testing, 1960–64

Itty Abraham 서울대학교행정대학원 2018 Asian Journal of Political Science Vol.26 No.3

Thisarticleseekstocontributetoaglobalhistoryofdisarmamentby arguing for the importance of a largely forgotten moment in the history of arms control, namely, the report on the legality of nuclear testing issued by the Asian African Legal Consultative Committee (AALCC) in 1964. By focusing on the legality of nuclear testing during peacetime, the AALCC report was able to advance its objective of delegitimizing the possession of nuclear weapons without confronting the issue directly, a battle that militarily weak countries could not win. Using international law to compensate for political marginality was a novel anti-nuclear weapons strategy that would be adopted by other campaigns in decades to come. The article offers a critical genealogy of the dominant narrative of international arms control by situating the AALCC report within the historical context of decolonization and pointing out the importance of taking seriously the influence of global public opinion on superpower negotiating tactics. This approach adds a new dimension to our understanding of the global pressures shaping negotiations over the Partial Test Ban Treaty.

The Relationship between Budgetary Institutions and Efficiencies: Changes after the Implementation of the Top-Down Budgeting Sy

강윤호 서울대학교행정대학원 2009 The Korean Journal of Policy Studies Vol.23 No.2

Senior South Koreans’ Difficulties in Embracing the Internet: Need for Alternative Approaches

박연민 서울대학교행정대학원 2007 The Korean Journal of Policy Studies Vol.22 No.1

This study challenges the mainstream technocratic notion of the digital divide and its access-based policy solutions, which do not appreciate the different information-using capabilities, perceptions, and choices of the people concerned. This notion is examined through the lens of information as structured capital that requires Internet access to be complemented by people’s information-using capabilities, inclinations, needs, knowledge, and beliefs, which must also complement each other to allow the effective use of information. Qualitative in-depth interviews with 30 senior South Koreans at a Senior Welfare Center suggest that the information capital possessed by these seniors is ill suited to responding to and taking advantage of Internet use. The social isolation of seniors provides them with neither incentives nor capabilities to restructure their information capital in the ways necessary for ongoing use. This finding suggests that digital divide policies for older people must shift their focus from technology per se toward more comprehensive approaches of dealing with the basic social needs of senior citizens.

U.S. State Minimum Wage Policies and Employment Performance Improvement

Dae Hyun Kim 서울대학교행정대학원 2015 Journal of Policy Studies Vol.30 No.1

Federal, state and local departments of labor are managing the minimum wage levels. U.S. state minimum wage increases are positively associated with GRDP growth rates and education expenditure rates. Minimum wage increases are positively associated with economic capacities and human capital improvements. And U.S. state minimum wage increases are negatively associated with state citizen ideology scores. Thus, relatively conservative citizens are supporting the minimum wage increase and U.S. state governments/governors are reflecting these conservative citizen ideologies regardless of state governments’ and state governors’ ideologies. These are the strong evidences of state policy congruence in case of minimum wage policy. And politicians and public administrators should respect the evidence-based policy approaches. Specialist opinions, evaluation reports and experiences are excellent sources of evidence-based policy. Public policy decisions should be based on these evidence-based policy approaches. Especially, politicians and public administrators should manage the relationships between minimum wage policy and employment performances cautiously by using public performance measures and statistical research methods. And minimum wage policy should be harmonized with labor productivity improvement.

Time Factors in Policy Performance: The Korean Government’s Economic Crisis Management in 2008

임도빈,조원혁 서울대학교행정대학원 2010 The Korean Journal of Policy Studies Vol.25 No.2

This paper assesses the Korean government’s management of the recent economic crisis by focusing on time factors. The events that occurred from March 2008 to October 2009 and the government’s corrective actions are interpreted through a “time lens” that accounts for the temporal constraints in terms of objective time as well as perceptive time. These two time domains have significant effects on the management of public policies, especially economic policies that require government interventions that affect the complex interactions of economic factors from both the fiscal policy and market perspectives. In order to illustrate the importance of long-term strategy, this study reviews the evolution of the economic situation following the onset of the financial crisis. Our retrospective analysis does not find that the Lee Myung-Bak government deployed strategies relevant for the long term, but rather that President Lee’s authoritarian attitude itself may help him fuel the economy for a long time. Regardless of the causes, this case emphasizes the need for consistency in policy making, especially when the policy area’s particularities require it.

The Effects of State Smart Growth Management and Local Contexts on Local Open Space Preservation

이세진 서울대학교행정대학원 2013 The Korean Journal of Policy Studies Vol.28 No.1

This study explores the effects of state smart growth management and local contextual factors—in particular, aspects of hierarchical governance and the political market framework—on local open space preservation. It takes into account state intervention in local affairs, including state requirements for local planning practices in general and for open space preservation in particular. It also tests local contextual factors such as political and informal institutions,interest groups, and community and physical characteristics, using hierarchical linear modeling. The findings suggest that counties are more likely to preserve open space when the state government strongly intervenes in local planning practices. The county manager form of government and high population density are negatively associated with open space preservation, while high demands for growth control and the presence of active environmental interest groups are positively associated with it.