1st Edition
Routledge Handbook of Contemporary South Korea
The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary South Korea offers a ground-breaking study of the socio-political development of the Korean peninsula in the contemporary period.
Written by an international team of scholars and experts, contributions to this book address key intellectual questions in the development of Korean studies, projecting new ways of thinking about how international systems can be organised and how local societies adapt to global challenges. Academically rigorous, each chapter defines current research and lends the reader greater understanding of the social, cultural, economic, and political developments of South Korea, ranging from chapters on the Korean Wave to relations with North Korea and the Korean language overseas.
The volume is divided into eight sections, each representing a focused area of inquiry:
- socio-political history
- contemporary politics
- political economy and development
- society
- culture
- international relations
- security and diplomacy
- South Korea in international education
This handbook provides an interdisciplinary and comprehensive account of contemporary South Korea. It will be of great interest to students and scholars of Korean history, politics and international relations, culture and society, and will also appeal to policy makers interested in the Indo-Asia Pacific region.
Introduction
Niki J.P. Alsford
Part 1: SOCIO-POLITICAL HISTORY
2. Educational Development, Society, and Politics in South Korea
Michael J. Seth
3. Historical Development of Judicial Independence in South Korea: Focus on Colonial and Post-Colonial Period
Jong-Chol An
Part 2: CONTEMPORARY POLITICS
4. Political Structure Changes in South Korea since 1948
Hannes B. Mosler
5. Evolution of Political Parties and the Party System in South Korea
Youngmi Kim
Part 3: POLITICAL ECONOMY AND DEVELOPMENT
6. History of the Developmental States: The Case of South Korea
Taekyoon Kim
7. Chaebǒl and the Political Economy of South Korean Development, 1945 - Present
Eun Mee Kim and Nancy Y. Kim
8. The Evolution Story of South Korea from a Fragile State to an International Actor
Sojin Lim
Part 4: SOCIETY
9. Religion in Contemporary Korean Society: Interactions between the Past, Present and Future
Kevin N. Cawley
10. Korean Labour Movement: The Birth, Rise and Transformation of the Democratic Trade Union Movement
Dae-oup Chang
Part 5: CULTURE
11. Culture is Power in Dynamic Korea: Soft Power and Government Involvement in the Korean Wave
Hannah Michell
12. Creating Our Culture Together: The Contemporary Audience for Traditional Korean Music
Cholong Sung
13. South Korean Film: Commercial Success, Full Service Cinema and the Crisis-Consciousness
Andrew David Jackson
14. The South Korean Literary Field and Its Recent Evolution
Eun Jin Jeong
Part 6: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
15. South Korean National Identity and Inter-Korean Relations since 1945
Sarah A. Son
16. South Korean Relations with North Korea
Lonnie Edge
17. The Past, Present and Future of United States-South Korea Relations
David Hundt
18. Japan-South Korea International Relations
Hyung-Gu Lynn
19. Between a Wedge and a Hedge: South Korea’s Dilemma over China Relations
Ed Griffith
Part 7: SECURITY AND DIPLOMACY
20. Security Dimensions in Light of Changing Dynamics: The Rise of South Korea as a Global Player
Virginie Grzelczyk
21. Continuity and Changes in South Korea’s Middle Power Diplomacy
Marco Milani
Part 8: SOUTH KOREA IN INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION
22. Korean Language Overseas
Seon Jung Kim
23. South Korea in the Secondary Education System in the United Kingdom
Michael Maddison, Aaron Wilkes and Richard McFahn
Biography
Sojin Lim is an Associate Professor at the University of Central Lancashire. She has published research on Korea, including Aid Modalities Determinants: South Korea Triangular Cooperation and Implication towards North Korea (2019).
Niki J.P. Alsford is a Professor at the University of Central Lancashire. He has published research on Taiwan, including Transitions to Modernity in Taiwan: The Spirit of 1895 and the Cession of Formosa to Japan (2017).
