The twenty-first century will be characterized by informatization, globalization, and openness. In particular, the rapid development of the Internet is playing a great role in globalization, in that information flows on it across national boundaries, without time or content constraints.
This study examines the relationship between structural characteristics of business firms and their effectiveness in South Korea, using multivariate regression analysis. The objective is to analyze the relationships between organizational characteristics and financial structure. This study is not concerned with individual-level variables (for example, interaction patterns and role conflict) or psychological variables (motivation, individual stress), although these are also important aspects of organizations. The view of organizations in the present study is strongly influenced by the work of scholars who argue that organizations are characterized by structural relationships among interdependent attributes.
The Korean peninsula, especially the demilitarized zone (DMZ) that splits it in two, is one of the world's most dangerous flashpoints. President Clinton called it "one of the scariest places on earth." In addition to the troops massed on the DMZ, the fragility of Northeast Asian security is underscored by North Korea's military and technological capability. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), North Korea, has one of world's largest armies, a million men, with artillery capable of bombarding Seoul. In August 1998, the DPRK launched a Taepodong I missile, which has the range to hit anywhere in South Korea or Japan. With further development, such missiles could reach Alaska, Hawaii, or even the continental United States.
Political Geography:
United States, North Korea, Korea, and Northeast Asia
GIL MEROM challenges the Israeli belief in national security exceptionalism. He compares strategic and moral dimensions of Israeli security with those of other states and concludes that the notion of Israel's national security exceptionalism is unfounded.
JAMES FOWLER draws on interviews with State Department officials and recently declassified documents to analyze the role of the United States in South Korea's democratization, concluding that U.S. public pressure on the Korean government played a critical role in determining the timing of the transition.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Democratization, and Bilateral Relations
BARRY M. BLECHMAN and TAMARA COFMAN WITTES examine the uses of military threats and military interventions in the Bush and first Clinton administrations. Based on case studies and interviews with U.S. decision makers, they conclude that domestic and international political constraints are preventing U.S. leaders from making threats decisive enough to persuade foreign leaders to comply with U.S. demands.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Politics, Military Intervention, Bill Clinton, and George H. W. Bush
PETER ANDREAS examines the rapid escalation of U.S. immigration control efforts along our southwest border in recent years. He argues that enhanced border policing has less to do with actual deterrence and more to do with projecting an image of order and coping with the deepening contradictions of economic integration.
Topic:
Immigration, NAFTA, Borders, and Economic Integration
In one of our occasional opinion essays, JEROME SLATER discusses the arguments for and against a Palestinian state as the solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. He argues that an appropriately structured Palestinian state would enhance rather than threaten Israel's national security.
Topic:
Security, Self Determination, History, and Zionism
GARRY RODAN investigates the political implications of the Internet in Singapore, where authorities have embarked on an ambitious attempt to restrain the liberalizing impact of the new technology. His findings contradict popular expectations of the Internet necessarily aiding the erosion of authoritarian rule.
Topic:
Politics, Science and Technology, Authoritarianism, Internet, and Liberalization
R. DOUGLAS ARNOLD analyzes the political difficulties in reforming Social Security in the absence of a short-term crisis. He argues that the chief political problem is to find a way to impose short-term costs on current taxpayers when the benefits of advance funding are exclusively long-term for future retires.