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12351. The Implications of Korea’s Transitional Justice Experience

Author:
Hun Joon Kim
Publication Date:
10-2021
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
East Asia Institute (EAI)
Abstract:
Korea, like every other country, suffered serious and systematic human rights violations but was able to implement a variety of successful transitional justice policies. Human rights violations and transitional justice on the Korean Peninsula is an important factor in the development of democracy due to the diversity of the issue areas. Professor Hun Joon Kim of Korea University outlines Korea’s experience of human rights violations and transitional justice and explores the implications and limitations that this experience can teach other countries. He states that the Korea experience is both universal and unique.Therefore, when seeking international implications for Korea’s transitional justice, it is important to discover and distinguish the universal and unique aspects of the Korean case.
Topic:
Human Rights, Democracy, Transitional Justice, and Justice
Political Geography:
Asia and South Korea

12352. Afghan Women: Surviving in the Land of Blue Burqas and Spilled Blood

Author:
Sanchita Bhattacharya
Publication Date:
10-2021
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
East Asia Institute (EAI)
Abstract:
Afghan women’s life expectancy increased, mortality during child decreased, and participation in social and political activities increased during the 20 year-long War on Terror as the rights of women were provided for during this time. However, despite the encouraging statistics, the idea that women are inferior and should not have the right to freedom remained within the country. Dr. Sanchita Bhattacharya, a Research Fellow at the Institute for Conflict Management, India points out that despite the absence of the Taliban, Afghan women still suffered due to male members of their family or tribe. Before the Taliban disbanded, violence against women was legalized in the country under the justification of preserving religion and the Taliban way of life. With the "come back” of the Taliban, the author states that violence against women will be normalized and it will be difficult to measure the degree of exploitation and harassment.
Topic:
Human Rights, Taliban, and Women
Political Geography:
Afghanistan and South Asia

12353. Characteristics of Disaster Risk Reduction Governance Under the Kim Jong Un Regime and Implications for Policies toward North Korea

Author:
Ejr Cho and Tae-Kyung Kim
Publication Date:
10-2021
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
East Asia Institute (EAI)
Abstract:
Kim Jong Un has been trying to overcome the triple distress North Korea faces – sanctions against North Korea, natural disasters, and the coronavirus pandemic. In this commentary, EJR Cho, Research Fellow at the Institute for National Security Strategy (INSS), and Tae-Kyung Kim, Associate Research Fellow at the National Assembly Futures Institute, explains North Korea’s “disaster risk reduction” governance, a system implemented by Kim Jong Un to flaunt the legitimacy and superiority of his regime. Internally, the regime has changed its organization and system related to disaster management. Externally, North Korea has requested the international community for disaster recovery assistance, accepted international norms on disaster management, and sought a multilateral cooperation to solve the distress that the regime faces. Changes such as Kim Jong Un’s shift from the Kim Jong Il regime's military-first politics to 'people first politics' show that it is possible for North Korea to engage with the international community in other areas in the coming years.
Topic:
Governance, Sustainable Development Goals, COVID-19, and Disaster Management
Political Geography:
Asia and North Korea

12354. The Role of Korea’s Election Commission and the Quality of Elections

Author:
Woo Chang Kang
Publication Date:
10-2021
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
East Asia Institute (EAI)
Abstract:
According to the Varieties of Democracy Institute, the freedom and fairness of South Korea’s elections have improved dramatically since the country first democratized. Figure 1 below shows how the quality of South Korea’s elections has changed between 1948 and 2020 (“election was free and fair” is indicated in blue) and the country’s rating on the Electoral Democracy Index (indicated in red). There was little change in election quality and the democracy index in the 40 years that followed the constitutional election of 1948. With the change to a direct election system implemented in 1987, the freedom and fairness of South Korea’s elections shot up, and the country’s rating on the democracy index increased greatly as well.
Topic:
Politics, Elections, and Democracy
Political Geography:
Asia and South Korea

12355. The China Challenge Prompts Recovery of a Strained ROK-Japan Relations: Analyzing ROK-Japan Relations Through the 9th Joint Korea-Japan Public Opinion Survey

Author:
Yul Sohn
Publication Date:
11-2021
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
East Asia Institute (EAI)
Abstract:
Korea-Japan relations have been strained for the past 3 years as the feelings of fatigue between the two citizens has been steadily increasing due to the Korean Supreme Court’s ruling on the forced wartime labor in October 2018. Bilateral cooperation to reorganize the world order after COVID-19 also remains bleak. The East Asia Institue (EAI, President Yul Sohn) and Genron NPO (President Yasushi Kudo) conducted the “9th Joint Korea-Japan Public Opinion Poll.” Based on the results of the survey, this issue briefing examines the differences in public opinion between the two countries on security and economic cooperation. This briefing also analyzes the Korean public’s call to improve ROK-Japan relations and increase cooperation. President Sohn argues that ROK-Japan relations should be re-examined under the intensified U.S.-China strategic competition and the possible post-pandemic global risks. He also states that Japan should abandon its one-track approach and understand the Korean’s preference for “future-oriented” cooperation. Additionally, the next Korean administration should respond to public opinion and strive towards the reconstruction of ROK-Japan relations.
Topic:
International Relations, Regional Cooperation, Public Opinion, and Strategic Competition
Political Geography:
Japan, China, Asia, South Korea, and United States of America

12356. Democratic Backsliding and Resilience: The Korean Experience

Author:
Won-Taek Kang
Publication Date:
11-2021
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
East Asia Institute (EAI)
Abstract:
Although Korean democracy is not “backsliding,” Korea has been witnessing signs of crisis in Democracy. Professor Won-Taek Kang of Seoul National University states that these “signs of crisis” poses challenges that need to be solved to strengthen the resilience of Korean democracy. This issue briefing analyzes South Korea’s democratization process, signs of crisis, and challenges in strengthening democratic resilience. The author argues that the most critical factor in safeguarding and maintaining the values of democracy is the role of a conscious citizen. Therefore the importance of tolerance and coexistence needs to be emphasized in civil education.
Topic:
Civil Society, Resilience, and Democratic Backsliding
Political Geography:
Asia and South Korea

12357. How Social Trust Shapes Civil Resistance: Lessons from Africa

Author:
Jacob S. Lewis
Publication Date:
08-2021
Content Type:
Book
Institution:
International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC)
Abstract:
What role does trust play in shaping the outcomes of civil resistance campaigns? Trust has been found to be a critical factor in building political and social capital, encouraging group cohesion, and overcoming collective action problems. Despite this, trust has not been directly addressed by the civil resistance scholarship. This monograph addresses this lacuna by examining how trust shapes – and is shaped by – three levels of mobilization: trust at the individual level, trust within activist groups, and trust across resistance campaigns.
Topic:
Mobilization, Local Cooperation, Trust, and Civil Resistance
Political Geography:
Africa

12358. The Impact of Nonviolent Resistance on the Peaceful Transformation of Civil War

Author:
Luke Abbs
Publication Date:
08-2021
Content Type:
Book
Institution:
International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC)
Abstract:
In recent years, a burgeoning literature has explored the strategic advantages of using nonviolent resistance to achieve positive political outcomes, such as regime change and democratization. Yet, despite one-fifth of largescale nonviolent campaigns occurring during the course of a civil war, we know little about the affect nonviolent resistance might have on the transformation of armed conflict. Bringing together the previously isolated literatures on nonviolent resistance and peacebuilding, this manuscript explores how nonviolent resistance can aid peacebuilding efforts that transform ongoing armed conflict, using data on all civil wars episodes since 1945. The finding show nonviolent resistance does have a positive impact on the resolution of armed conflict, with evidence deriving from a Large-N statistical analysis, out-of-sample prediction and structured-focused case studies.
Topic:
Conflict, Resistance, Nonviolence, and Peacebuilding
Political Geography:
Global Focus

12359. Civil Resistance Against Climate Change

Author:
Robyn Gulliver, Kelly Fielding, and Winnifred Louis
Publication Date:
09-2021
Content Type:
Book
Institution:
International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC)
Abstract:
Transnational movements using nonviolent resistance tactics to demand action on climate change have emerged from a foundation of decades of persistent and diverse environmental activism. What are the features of this nonviolent resistance that differentiate it from previous activism? What response is this resistance prompting from political and financial entities? To investigate these questions this monograph combines a large-scale longitudinal data set on climate activism in Australia with two case studies of nonviolent resistance against corporations. The study offers key lessons for a range of individuals and groups, from climate activists and civil society organizations to academics and others interested in supporting nonviolent action against climate change. In doing so, it addresses major gaps in our understanding of the effectiveness of civil resistance against climate change and the potential this resistance holds to prompt urgent action.
Topic:
Climate Change, transnationalism, Resistance, Nonviolence, and Activim
Political Geography:
Australia

12360. The Organizational Roots of Market Design Failure: Structural Abstraction, the Limits of Hierarchy, and the California Energy Crisis of 2000/01.

Author:
Georg Rilinger
Publication Date:
12-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies
Abstract:
Economic sociologists have rarely studied organizational reasons why market design pro- cesses fail. Drawing on the organizational literature on mistakes and accidents, the paper identifies such reasons for a fatal design decision during the creation of California’s first electricity markets. Designers proposed weak oversight structures even though their mod- els called for active and permanent regulatory control. Sellers like Enron could therefore manipulate the market without fear of detection, prolonging the western energy crisis. A process of “structural abstraction” explains this mistake. Designers were split into three groups that worked in different divisions and relied on local frames to understand the over- sight requirements. Each group missed information the others were aware of and arrived at the conclusion that minimal oversight would suffice. Higher levels of the hierarchy should have discovered and resolved these discrepancies. However, these levels considered the is- sue at a higher level of abstraction. Such structural abstraction made room for ambiguities that obscured the local disagreements.
Topic:
Climate Change, Economics, Energy Policy, Electricity, and Energy Crisis
Political Geography:
California, North America, and United States of America