As the recent “Arab spring” movement has shown, control of communication is crucial for the survival of nondemocratic regimes. In particular, outside communication that allows citizens to compare alternative political regimes is dangerous. German ...
As the recent “Arab spring” movement has shown, control of communication is crucial for the survival of nondemocratic regimes. In particular, outside communication that allows citizens to compare alternative political regimes is dangerous. German East-West relations and East-West communication in the time of Cold War from 1945 to 1989 were much thicker than inner-Korean relations at the same time and today. This paper identifies three main driving factors of communication, namely Cold War competition, the existence of West Berlin, and trade relations. Every attempt to improve inter-Korean relations has to start from the fact that the current North Korean regime has no interest in open communication, which erodes the internal controlling power of the state.