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Volume 5 No. 1
Western Concepts in the Japanese Experience: Human Rights and Supranationalism in the Japanese Context
*Abstract :
Language remains one of the most immutable barriers between Japan and
the West. The problem in rendering difficult western notions in Japanese
can be seen in the difficulties in translating two western political
concepts—human rights and supranationalism. The English word 'rights'
can be translated into Japanese as kenri. However, kenri combines the
ideas of power or authority with the concepts of profit or interest.
This version of the word lacks any connotation of morality, justice or
correctness, and tends to cast Japanese who assert a right as self?
centered, profit? seeking, and self? righteous. These differences in
conceptualization are real; but they do not justify the all too common
claims about the insignificance of rights in Japan. There is a greater
linguistic, emotional, and semantic challenge in Japan in distinguishing
between two concepts--"supranationalism" and "ultranationalism"--which
in English are diametrically opposed notions. It may be that the limits
on the Japanese worldview, seen in microcosm in the lack of a Japanese
way of expressing supranationalism, present a huge barrier to the
formation of an East Asian regional regime. However, there are no firm
empirical or theoretical grounds for such a conclusion.
Term Limitation Movement: Is It Possible to Establish 'Citizen Legislature' What American Founders Hoped?
*Abstract :
The new political trend of America in the 1990s was term limitation
movement in order to reduce big-money influence in politics, the
influence of interest groups and lobbyists and for average American
citizens to run for public office which eventually lead to 'citizen
legislature'. The term limit movement, which has been projected as a
'cure-all' reform, has drawn widespread support, but the movement also
has its unintended effects. Proponents of the reform fall into several
categories who disagree with each other over the goals and effects of
term-limit. Such differences must be set aside to prevent the weakening
of the strong solidarity that exists between term-limit supporters.
Opponents of the reform can also play upon the differences and
conceptual inconsistencies to weaken the cause. This article deals with
those issues one by one. I hope this article would provide the useful
hint to reform the corrupted politician in this world.
The Economics of Higher Education and the Role of Competition for Universities - a Consideration of the Korea Case
*Abstract :
Facing globalization and changing technical possibilities for teaching,
but also different expectations from the job market, universities have
to change their traditional approach to teaching. Despite the long,
indigenous tradition of university level teaching in Korea, today
reforms are increasingly necessary, as revealed by a number of
indicators. Institutional factors, especially the lack of competition in
the university system, are responsible for this. Competition works as a
'discovery procedures' (F.A. Hayek) and control procedure for market
power and its abuse. In this paper the role of competition in the Korean
university systems is analyzed. While the historical roots (the
Confucian educational system in Korea) are not alien to competition and
while there is a fierce competition for entering universities,
competition between universities by performance indicators is severely
limited. The reason for this can be seen in an ossification and (viewed
from a public choice perspective) in the power position of office
holders and academic clans. This paper discusses, how competition –
based on a competition system guaranteeing fairness and transparency –
can be reintroduced in Korea's university system. For this, the changes
required by the challenges mentioned above should be seen a chance to
change an otherwise sclerotic academic system.
Foreign Policy in Aid: Pattern of Allocation of Japan's Official Development Assistance in Southeast Asia
*Astract :
This paper analyzes how Japan allocated its aid in Southeast Asia,
specifically the criteria where the allocation was based, and the
factors that influenced its aid behavior. It assumes that aid allocation
and Japan's foreign policy direction go in tandem. Allocation criteria
were based on economic factors because foreign policy objectives overlap
with economic diplomacy. The study confirmed that Japan's foreign
policy direction affected the pattern of aid allocation. The most
observable changes were the huge ODA flows to Vietnam during the 1990s,
and the considerable aid flows to Cambodia and Laos. Economic and
political interests were exemplified by huge ODA allocation to
Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines, countries with which Japan had
the most trade, investment and political ties.
Spatial Structure and Commuting Patterrns in the Seoul Metropoltan Area
*Abstract :
This study examines the spatial patterns of employment and population
with two urban density models-monocentric and polycentric models-for
Seoul for the period 1980-1995. It was found that Seoul's urban spatial
structure appears to be undergoing a transition similar to that of other
cities, from one that is strongly CBD-oriented to one that is more
random, more spread out, and whose employment, at least, is more focused
on outlying employment subcenters. Unlike some other cities, population
in Seoul does not appear to be strongly influenced by its large
employment subcenters. The change in the average commuting distance per a
commuter was also estimated in this study. It was found that the
average commuting distance of workers in Seoul metroplitan area has
notably increased due to rapid decentralization in the period of
1990-1996. One of the major causes for deterioration of the jobs-housing
mismatch problem during this period was the new towns, which were built
in 1990s, to solve the problem of housing supply shortage. Those new
town areas are functioning as purely bed-towns since they have poor
industrial facilities around. In this study, the effect of
decentralization of employment on commuting behavior was also examined
using a simulation. It was found that commuting time could be
significantly reduced by decentralizing jobs or centralizing workers
The
Direction of the Roh Moo-Hyun Government's 'Peace and Prosperity
Policy' for the Settlement of the North Korean Nuclear Isuue
*Abstract :
The research objective of this thesis is to analyze the Roh Moo-Hyun
government's position on the settlement of the North Korean Nuclear
Issue, and based on such position, to search for directions in which to
propel the Peace and Prosperity Policy. Following such focus, the method
of approach taken in this thesis leans towards
thenormative⋅prescriptive method of approach, which are two research
methods among the study of public policy. Following these research
objectives and methods, the results of this thesis analyzed as below.
The North Korean nuclear issue can be diagnosed as having two
etiological causes. One can be found in the North's development,
manufacture and possession of nuclear and traditional WMDs for the
survival of its feudalistic and regalistic hereditary monarchism. The
other can be found in the abnormality of North Korea-US relations
resulting from the pressure policy of the Bush administration that
completely denies the entity of the regime and actually pursues its
collapse, which is considerably different from the former Clinton
administration's tolerance policy which induced the regime to reform and
open its doors for its survival, ultimately aiming for a change of
regime. The prescription for these two etiological causes would be for
North Korea to first announce its forfeit of nuclear arsenal, followed
by the US presenting a possibility of change in its pressure policy that
denies the entity of the North Korean regime, after which a settlement
of issues at hand can be made by negotiations between the North and the
US through dialogue and contact, to be finalized through an
institutionalized guarantee from an international organization or the
international community regarding the fulfillment of the agreement.
Volume 5 No. 2
Instrument,
Relation and Identity Issues in International Negotiation :Case Study
of the Jimmy Carter and Kim Il Sung Negotiation
*
Abstrct: This study attempts to provide insights into Jimmy Carter's
negotiation with North Korean President Kim Il Sung in June of 1994 by
using a instrument, relation and identity issues of international
negotiations as a lens for analysis. Understanding instrumental,
relational, and identity issues are especially significant in analyzing
conflicts in which emotions "run high" as they certainly did in the
North Korean nuclear crisis.
A
detailed and critical analysis of the instrumental, relational and
identity issues in Carter-Kim negotiation will help to uncover the
deeper forces at work during the U.S.-North Korean conflict of early
1990s. The analysis of the issues at play will also show why the
Carter-Kim negotiation helped to defuse a crisis situation. Finally,
this study will illustrate that mediators and diplomats need to identify
a set of strategies that will work to defuse high-risk international
crises. These efforts will optimize those strategies that not only
represent a particular parties best interests, but that work help to
transform high risk emotional soundbites into low risk exchanges that
recognize the interests of the two contending parties.
The World in Three Spheres : Mere Coexistence with a Nuclear North Korea
*
Abstrct: Can North Korea's nuclear weapons ambitions be contained
without force? Or asked way, can diplomacy work with North Korea? The
prospects are not good. Yet war is not a foregone conclusion either.
The Theoretical Foundations for ASEAN +3 : Prospect and Limitations
*
Abstrct: The purpose of this paper is to investigate economic
desirability and political feasibility of East Asian regionalism,
focusing on ASEAN +3 movements.
East
Asia is an interesting exception in the age of regionalism. Despite the
fact that rapid economic growth in the region has promoted
intraregional trade, there are only a few regional institutions. There
are several obstacles to regionalism in East Asia. They include 1)
unique historicaltradition of East Asia, especially the hierarchical
international order in the region, 2) hegemonic competition between
Japan and China, 3) large variation in political, economic and cultural
institutions among countries, 4) lack of consensus building process in
domestic politics, and 5) high dependence on the United States. In spite
of these obstacles, there is a growing consensus that East Asian
countries need their own regional economic institutions to enhance
economic gains and to countervail regional movements in other parts of
the world.
There
are four different theories to explain rationals of FTAs. Two economic
theories are the Viner's trade creation/diversion theory and the gravity
model theory. Two political theories are domestic political theories
and international political theories. All four theories focus on
differents sources of FTAs. Two economic theories assess economic
desirability of FTAs, and two political theories assess political
feasibility of FTAs. In this paper, we will empirically investigate both
economic desirability and political feasibility based upon data on
ASEAN +3 countries. In this empirical investigation, we will compare
European experiences and ASEAN +3 cases.
Retrospect on the Nature and Uses of Soviet Power in International Relations.
*
Abstrct: The purpose of this paper is to evaluated the relative
influences of internal and external factors on the Soviet foreign
policy. By critically reviewing extensive literature on this subject the
author derives several conclusions. First, a view of dichotomy is not
helpful in studying the relative impact of the internal and external
factors. The appropriate answer to the question is not "either one or
the other." Second, records of the Soviet foreign policy and behavior
tends to strengthen the argument that internal and extranal factors.
Third, ideology as an internal factor played a special role. The attempt
to deny the role of ideology only distorts the actual process of policy
making. Fourth, since the 1960s, there has been significant growth of
the importnace of external factors mainly because of the world wide
shift from autarky to interdependence, the shift from extensive growth
to intensive growth in the Soviet Union, the emergence of the military
strategic parity, and the changing nature of the notion of power.
Collective Identity in the East Asian Community : A Constructivist Approach
*
Abstrct: This paper intends to explore the importance and the roles of
culture and identity in relations among Korea, Japan and China. It
adopts are constructivist approach in international relations theory as
an analytical tool. It is argued, in this paper, that the future of East
Asian regional cooperation, in a regional community form, will be
strongly influenced by the successful formation of a collective identity
and their perceptions to genuinely represent the security and economic
interest among those states.
Despite
some obstacles to the successful formation of the EAC, the perception
of the roles and importance of a collective identity among EAC member
states should be considered. Although it could not explain everything
about the dynamics of East Asian cooperation, it could be a
supplementary alternative to either politics-based or interest-based
explanation. A collective identity among EAC state is a result of their
long-lasted historical experiences. As a cultural factors, a collective
identity stresses the importance of ideas and beliefs help by East Asian
states' elites rather than states as rational actors.
Japanese Imperialism : Political Philosophy Based on the Shinto-Emperor Ideology
*
Abstrct: Freedom of religion was proclaimed in the Meiji Constitution,
but it was conditional. After the Meiji Restoration in 1868, the new
Japanese leaders established the centralized government with the
Constitution in 1889. Although there existed advocates for democratic
thought protected by freedom of speech under the Constitution, there
were never enough to become a majority before 1945. The dominant thought
was the Shinto-Emperor ideology, which was called the Kokutai and it
was a characteristic of the state, where the emperor was the absolute
ruler beyond time and scope. It was the core political philosophy which
put the people under a spell after the Restoration until the end of
World War II.
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