How did a country with a dearth of natural resources, a sprawling population congested in a limited arable land transform itself to a modern industrial state within a generation? How could these have been achieved given the lingering geopolitical threats to its very survival as a state, as evidenced by the Korean War and the internecine aggressive posturing of its neighbor from the north? This book looks at strategies, institutional arrangement, role of entrepreneurs and workers in this odyssey, and on how those factors have worked together through effective leadership to transform South Korea’s economic fortunes.

In just one generation, South Korea has transformed from a recipient of foreign aid to a member of the G20. In this informative book, South Korea is used as a case by which to explore and illustrate specific issues arising from the complex relationships between the nation’s economic development and society. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial}

This Handbook examines the theory and practice of international relations in Asia. Building on an investigation of how various theoretical approaches to international relations can elucidate Asia's empirical realities, authors examine the foreign relations and policies of major countries or sets of countries.

Economic growth picked up in 2017, but reforms are needed to sustain Korea's convergence toward the income levels in the most advanced countries. Its labour productivity is 46% below the top half of OECD countries, reflecting problems in the service sector. In addition, productivity in small ...

A unique explanation of the development of Korean social policy using the concepts of 'policy idea', 'policy network' and 'policy-linkages' to examine the causes, patterns and consequences of state interventions in the economy and social affairs.

Economic activity has contracted less in Korea than in other OECD countries, thanks to the prompt and effective reaction of the authorities to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus and to the wide-ranging government support to households and businesses. Nevertheless, the pandemic generates strong headwinds.

This book studies the sources of inequality in contemporary South Korea and the social and political contention this engenders. Korean society is becoming more polarized. Demands for ‘economic democratization’ and a fairer redistribution of wealth occupy centre-stage of political campaigns, debates and discourse. The contributions offer perspectives on this wide-ranging socio-political change by examining the transformation of organized labour, civil society, the emergence of new cleavages in society, and the growing ethnic diversity of Korea’s population. Bringing together a team of scholars on Korea’s transition and democratization, the story the books tells is one of a society acutely divided by the neo-liberal policies that accompanied and followed the Asian financial crisis. Taken together, the contributions argue that tackling inequalities are challenges that Korean policy-makers can no longer postpone. The solution, however, cannot be imposed, once again, from the top down, but needs to arise from a broader conversation including all segments of Korean society. The book is intended for a readership interested in South Korean politics specifically, and global experiences in transition more generally.

This multidisciplinary book examines the potential of economic and social rights to contest adverse impacts of neoliberalism on human wellbeing.

"An explanation for Korea's economic success"--

This is the first English-language book on cultural policy in Korea, which critically historicises and analyses the contentious and dynamic development of the policy. It highlights that the evolution of cultural policy has been bound up with the complicated political, economic and social trajectory of Korea to a surprising degree. Investigating the content and context of the policy from the period of Japanese colonial rule (1910–1945) until the military authoritarian regime (1961–1988), the book discusses how culture, often co-opted by the government, was mobilised to disseminate state agendas and define national identity. It then moves on to investigate the distinct characteristics of Korea’s contemporary cultural policy since the 1990s, particularly its energetic pursuit of democracy, a market economy of culture and outward cultural globalisation (the Korean Wave). This book helps readers to understand the continuous presence of the ‘strong state’ in Korean cultural policy and its implications for the cultural life of Koreans. It argues that this exceptionally active cultural policy sets an important condition not only for artistic creation, cultural consumption and cultural business in the country, but also for the nation's ambitious endeavour to turn the success of its pop culture into a global phenomenon.