Following the death of Kim Jong Il, North Korea has entered a period of profound transformation laden with uncertainty. This authoritative book brings together the world's leading North Korea experts to analyze both the challenges and prospects the country is facing. Drawing on the contributors' expertise across a range of disciplines, the book examines North Korea's political, economic, social, and foreign policy concerns. Considering the implications for Pyongyang's transition, it focuses especially on the transformation of ideology, the Worker's Party of Korea, the military, effects of the Arab Spring, the emerging merchant class, cultural infiltration from the South, Western aid, and global economic integration. The contributors also assess the impact of North Korea's new policies on China, South Korea, the United States, and the rest of the world. Comprehensive and deeply knowledgeable, their analysis is especially crucial given the power consolidation efforts of the new leadership underway in Pyongyang and the implications for both domestic and international politics. Contributions by: Nicholas Anderson, Charles Armstrong, Bradley Babson, Victor Cha, Bruce Cumings, Nicholas Eberstadt, Ken Gause, David Kang, Andrei Lankov, Woo Young Lee, Liu Ming, Haksoon Paik, Kyung-Ae Park, Terence Roehrig, Jungmin Seo, and Scott Snyder.

South Korea has continued to impress the world in the way it has harnessed social modernization, economic development, political democratization and, most recently, multi-faceted globalization. Relying on both established and inventive citizenship perspectives, the authors in this volume collectively show that all these diverse societal transformations and achievements can be concretely and systematically comprehended in conjunction with citizens? reshaping identities, rights, and duties in civil society and national polity. South Koreans? eye-catching traits and trends of educational zeal, economic development, civil activism, nationalism, and neoliberal globalization are analyzed here as diverse yet often interconnected manifestations of citizenship politics. As shown comprehensively in this volume, the necessity of such citizenship-focused analyses is particularly evident in recent years as South Korea has been undergoing a condensed transition from class politics to citizenship politics.This book is a highly inclusive yet incisive account of modern and late modern Korea, utilizing citizenship as a powerful theoretical and analytical tool. Such judicious theoretical and analytical use of citizenship in respect to modern Korean history and society will in turn enable a meaningful expansion of theoretical and methodological utility of citizenship in contemporary global social sciences.This book was based on a special issue of Citizenship Studies.

Mention North Korea to people today and they will conjure up many unflattering images, particularly in the wake of George W. Bush denouncing the state as part of an "axis of evil". Despite this cold war type rhetoric, the state of North Korea has begun to recognise the difficult challenges that it faces and is now trying to get to grips with them systematically. This book brings together a selection of many of the world experts on the North Korean economy and covers such important issues as: *possible unification with South Korea *the significance of China's economic success *Europe and the United States' roles in North Korea North Korea in the World Economy provides an accessible, well-written and comprehensive account of this unique country and its economy. It will be extremely interesting not only for students and academics with an interest in Korean studies, international finance and transition economies but also for anyone with an interest in international economics.

Since South Korea achieved partial democracy in 1987, the country has moved away from authoritarian political control. However, after two decades of democratic transition, South Korea still does not have a strong liberal, individualist culture – something that has brought about a wide range of scholarly discussion on the nature of democracy practised in this dynamic country. While the political changes in South Korea have received rigorous attention from Western scholars, less attention has been given to the changing nature and role of media in this and other such transitions. This book focuses on the changing role of media in the more democratised political landscape of South Korea. It thereby contributes to debates about the emerging role of the media in democratic transition, especially in relation to approaches that go beyond traditional Western constructs of media freedom and the relationship between the state and the media. In addition, it discusses the complex interacting forces that affect the role of the media and their implications for state control and democratisation.

This book examines how North Korea has managed to weather an uncertain political future and catastrophic economic system since the end of the Cold War. Emerging as a state that has successfully developed and tested missiles and nuclear weapons, North Korea has consolidated the Kim family dynasty through the appointment of Kim Jong Un as Pyongyang’s latest strongman. The author provides an empirically rich account of new diplomatic recognitions, military partnerships, knowledge trade, coping mechanisms to offset international sanctions, import and export partners, foreign investment practices and engagement within the Global South. The resulting picture is that of a state that is, against all odds, mainstreaming, and becoming a more complex and relevant actor in the 21st century diplomatic world.

Featuring contributions by some of the leading experts in Korean studies, this book examines the political content of Kim Jong-Il's regime maintenance, including both the domestic strategy for regime survival and North Korea's foreign relations with South Korea, Russia, China, Japan, and the United States. It considers how and why the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) became a hermit kingdom in the name of Juche (self-reliance) ideology, and the potential for the barriers of isolationism to endure. This up-to-date analysis of the DPRK's domestic and external policy linkages also includes a discussion of the ongoing North Korean nuclear standoff in the region.

This volume explores the possibility of North Korea's'soft-landing' as the most desirable outcome on the Korean Peninsula. The collection of essays by noted students of Asian security examines the perspectives and interests of North and South Korea, the United States, China, Russia and Japan regarding North Korea's future, including the possibility of its neutrality.

A comprehensive, systematic analysis of the North Korean economy, exposing its hidden workings through quantitative data analysis and surveys.

Prolonging North Korea's life may actually increase the costs and the dangers of its inevitable demise.