South Korea’s Hedging toward South Korea-United States-China Trilateral Dynamics

YongSoo Park 미래사회통합연구센터 2021 Journal of Conflict and Integration Vol.5 No.1

Despite increasing domestic and international pressure to choose between the US Indo-Pacific Strategy and China"s Belt and Road Initiative, South Korea is still not officially participating in either of the two countries’ core strategies. Instead, South Korea introduced a neutral policy called the New Southern Policy. Through the New Southern Policy, South Korea has been encouraging participation by strategic functions in areas that have a common interest between South Korea, the United States, and China, and has been promoting and reinforcing cooperation with the two superpowers simultaneously. This ambiguous strategy taken by South Korea is a typical hedging strategy that the weaker state takes against the competing two great powers while maintaining a certain distance from the fierce competition between them. This shows that a hedging strategy asserted in the balance of power theory is valid in explaining the strategic actions South Korea is taking in relation to the fierce US-China competition in the Indo-Pacific region of the 21st century.

The Origin of Urban Poverty and Economic Inequality in Contemporary China

Jiyoung Kim 미래사회통합연구센터 2020 Journal of Conflict and Integration Vol.4 No.2

This study attempts to examine the origin of urban poverty and economic inequality in contemporary China by focusing on the period of 1980s and 1990s. China has experienced a rapid economic growth during the two decades, after the start of economic reform in 1978. This study claims that the primary cause of urban poverty in China is due to structural liberalization during the two decades (1980s-1990s), which has been adopted to achieve rapid economic growth in the global economy. Structural liberalization has resulted in reduction of the welfare system, an increase in unemployment, and an increase in the number of rural migrants into urban areas. In addition, it will specify the impact of hukou system and FDI on urban poverty and inequality in China.

The Construction of China’s Artificial Island in the South China Sea

Sadia Afrin 미래사회통합연구센터 2017 Journal of Conflict and Integration Vol.1 No.2

The construction of China’s artificial island with modern facilities such as ports, airstrips, radar facilities, and other military buildings in the South China Sea alarmed the entire world as a burning international political issue. This paper explains China’s efforts to build artificial islands in the South China Sea and how international law, particularly the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), has failed to address with China’s building of artificial islands and to resolve the international conflicts it has caused.

Effects of European Identity Upon Refugee protection: The case of 6 Western European countries

Minseok Kang 미래사회통합연구센터 2021 Journal of Conflict and Integration Vol.5 No.1

This study analyzes the effect of European identity on refugee protection in the 6 Western European countries from 2016 to 2019, especially focusing on the inclusive/exclusive mechanism of European identity. It is confirmed that the countries with higher European identity tend to record higher level of refugee recognition rate and higher refugee protection awareness, while the countries with lower European identity have tendency of lower refugee recognition rate and lower refugee protection awareness. Accordingly, European identity could be regarded as inclusive and integrative identity based on the normative values that the European Union have emphasized in the process of European integration.

Mechanisms to enforce gender quotas and its limitation in Mexico

Minjeoung Kim,Gabriella Rossetti Caseres 미래사회통합연구센터 2021 Journal of Conflict and Integration Vol.5 No.1

How do Social Problems and Social Conflicts Travel across Borders?

Erik Neveu 미래사회통합연구센터 2017 Journal of Conflict and Integration Vol.1 No.1

A tradition of “social problems” studies, established in the American Academia since the 1950"s, questions how events, facts or issues are transformed by organized claim-makers into ‘problems’ requiring debate and policy answers. This research tradition remains very “national”, focusing on the emergence of public problems in a specific country. The aim of this paper is to suggest provisional landmarks to explore the existence of dynamics of diffusion and “globalization” of public problems. This article suggests firstly that social changes are creating opportunities for the production of “global” or transnational claims. The level of international interdependencies is growing. More a more ranking systems and monitoring institutions are allowing international comparisons whose results and uses are covered by international media. Finally one can speak of a new transnational ecology of problem management with the growing importance of Transnational Advocacy Networks, NGOs and INGOs. In a second part this article questions the processes which are structuring problems" diffusion. What are the resources of the source country or institution? How to find supports and relays in the adopting countries? How to translate problems in order to bridge cultural gaps? How national knowledge regimes can work as filters or amplifiers? What is the impact of political opportunity structures?

The US Foreign and Defense Policy Changes based on the ‘Audience Cost’: US Foreign Policy Changes regarding The Congress, Public Opinion, and Media

Jaehoon Cha,SangYong Yun 미래사회통합연구센터 2020 Journal of Conflict and Integration Vol.4 No.1

This study applies James Fearon’s “Audience Cost” theory on the US foreign-defense policy during the Bush-Obama era, and analyzes when their foreign-defense policy agenda clashed against groups that can inflict the “audience cost”. This study attempted to prove that the President is not the sole decisionmaker in foreign-defense policy area, and the public opinion, the Congress, and even media are influencing the direction of the American foreign-defense policy altogether.

The Challenge of Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula: Opportunities and Risks

Seung-Hyun Lee 미래사회통합연구센터 2020 Journal of Conflict and Integration Vol.4 No.1

In this article, I have a plan to find ways to improve inter-Korean relations by narrowing the gap between many denuclearization hurdles and analyzing the tasks of South Korea to implement in the denuclearization process. First of all, I would like to check the environment of the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, as it is necessary for me to conduct a three-dimensional analysis of the East Asian level, the Korean Peninsula level and the South Korea domestic level. So, I did review the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) of the current political situation surround Korean Peninsula. Based on SWOT analysis, I tried to describe the pathways that have been discussed in reality. These are (a) the dismantling of the Yongbyon nuclear facilities and Small deal, (b) the dismantling of the Yongbyon nuclear facility + α and big deal, (c) a complete denuclearization roadmap and step by step piecemeal negotiation. I think it is realistic to go to the denuclearization negotiation with the exchange of security (Kim’s regime) for security (Nuclear Weapons etc).

Going Green Together? Placing the “Green City” Freiburg in the Debate on Sustainable Urban Development Policies and Participatory Decision Making

Heike Hermanns 미래사회통합연구센터 2018 Journal of Conflict and Integration Vol.2 No.1

Environmentally-friendly urban planning challenges the democratic notions of deliberation and inclusiveness. The goals of sustainability often counter short-term oriented human interests. In order to overcome this bias, some writers suggest and identify a tendency of top-down planning with authoritarian traits. This paper explores this problem using Freiburg in Germany as a case study. The city is wellknown for its sustainable urban planning that also aims to be inclusive but the two projects presented here show that public deliberation and inclusiveness were practiced for a short period, to be replaced by top-town technocratic approaches. Democratic urban planning needs constant vigilance by citizens to fulfil its inclusive promise.

Religion, Education and State in France(1789-1905)

Minjeoung Kim 미래사회통합연구센터 2020 Journal of Conflict and Integration Vol.4 No.1

The function of education is important to have knowledge of politically important issues, and to let members of society recognize what values are good in politics. It is a political socialization. To integrate people into a political system, the political system socializes people through education. The Hijab issue at school in France seems to be related to a religious issue but is also an educational issue. This study tries to reveal the relationship between the education, religion and the state in France in order to explain the reason why the French society has been so sensitive to the Hijab issue in school. Along the period of the third Republic of France, the republicans tried to abolish the influence of the catholic church into politics so that the reactionaries would not take a power again. They thought that the royalists could come back to power anytime because electorates who had been educated by the catholic church could vote for the royalists. Therefore the republican efforts to build a republic concentrated on the building of the public educational system. This study shows a long history of the republican efforts to institutionalize the French public educational system that explains also the saliency of the Hijab issue in French society of 20th century.