Democracy and Destabilization on the Korean Peninsula and Beyond

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

This panel explores democracy in action and sources of stability and instability on the Korean Peninsula in comparative perspective. The four papers leverage diverse approaches to investigating political processes and destabilization. Hur and Yeo adopt an institutional culture approach to explain democratic ceilings in South Korea and Taiwan. Chung and Chung use a survey-based experiment to analyze how voters with varying degrees of numeracy respond to empirical data about immigration and crime rates. Kim’s comparative approach traces how social cleavages in East Asian developmental states contributed to right-oriented party structures. Finally, using a game theoretic framework, Choi and Patterson demonstrate the instability of U.S. policy toward North Korea and show how it benefited leaders in Pyongyang. Together these papers illuminate political institutions and culture, political attitudes, party systems, and foreign policy dynamics on the Korean Peninsula and situate them in comparative perspective.

Sub Unit

• Related Groups / Association of Korean Political Studies

Individual Presentations

• An Institutional Culture Approach to Democratic Ceilings in Korea and Taiwan - Aram Hur, University of Missouri; Andrew Yeo, Catholic University of America

• Changing Strategies in US-North Korean Relations: A Game Theoretic Analysis - Jangsup Choi, Texas A&M University, Commerce; Dennis P. Patterson, Texas Tech University

• Developmental States’ Social Cleavages and Conservative Party Dominance - Seokdong Kim, Seoul National University

Chair

• Yi-Chun Chien National Chengchi University

Discussant

• Yi-Chun Chien National Chengchi University