The origins and development of the Northeast Asian political economy: industrial sectors, product cycles, and political consequences

1984 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce Cumings
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Product Cycle ◽  
Korean Society ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
Product Cycles ◽  
Economic Unit ◽  
Industrial Sectors ◽  
The World ◽  
Northeast Asian

Theories of the product cycle, hegemony, and the world system are used to analyze the creation and development of the Northeast Asian political economy in this century. Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan have each developed in a particular relationship with the others; the three taken together form a hierarchical, constantly interacting political-economic unit. During the period of colonial rule Japan was unique in building an imperial economic unit marked by a strong role for the state (whether in Tokyo or Taipei), by a tight, integral Unking of all three nations into a communications and transport network running toward the metropole, and by a strategy of both using the colonies for agricultural surpluses and then locating industries there. After 1945 a diffuse American hegemony replaced Japan's unilateral system, but elements of the prewar model have survived: strong states direct economic development in South Korea and Taiwan (here termed “bureaucratic-authoritarian industrializing regimes”); both countries are receptacles for Japan's declining industries; and both countries develop in tandem, if in competition, with each other. The most recent export-led competition has seen Taiwan succeed where South Korea has (temporarily?) failed, leaving Seoul in an export-led “trap,” burdened with rapidly increasing external debt. Taiwan, furthermore, has industrialized relatively free of social disruption, whereas Korean society resisted its transformation at Japanese hands and remains more rebellious today. There can be one Japan and one Taiwan, but not two or many of either, in the world economy.

scholarly journals The political consequences of the product cycle: industrial history and political outcomes

1979 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
James R. Kurth
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
International Political Economy ◽  
Product Cycle ◽  
The West ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
Industrial History ◽  
Political Outcomes ◽  
Foreign Policies ◽  
The Impact

What explains the continuing stagnation in the industrial economies of the West? What will be the impact of such stagnation upon domestic politics and upon international relations? Are there domestic and foreign policies which the state can undertake to bring about a return to sustained economic prosperity and a recapitulation of that lost golden age of 1948–1973? These are now the central questions for scholars in the emerging field of international political economy. A recent special issue of International Organization, edited by Peter Katzenstein, has presented some of the most useful and sophisticated approaches to these questions and analyses of the international political economy of the West during the period of the last thirty years.

In Pursuit of English

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Sung-Yul Park
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Self Management ◽  
Economic Opportunity ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Korean Society ◽  
Neoliberal Governmentality ◽  
Self Development ◽  
The World

This book presents subjectivity as a theoretical and analytic perspective for studying the intersection of language and political economy. It makes this point by arguing that the way English comes to be valorized as a language of economic opportunity in the context of neoliberalism must be understood with reference to subjectivity—the dimensions of affect, morality, and desire that shape how we, as human beings, understand ourselves as actors in the world. Focusing on South Korea’s ‘English fever’ that took place in the 1990s and 2000s, this book traces how English became an object of heated pursuit amidst the country’s rapid neoliberalization, demonstrating that English gained prominence in this process not because of the language’s supposed economic value, but because of the anxieties, insecurities, and moral desire that neoliberal Korean society inculcated—which led English to be seen as an index of an ideal neoliberal subject who willingly engages in constant self-management and self-development in response to the changing conditions of the global economy. Bringing together ethnographically oriented perspectives on subjectivity, critical analysis of conditions of contemporary capitalism, theories of neoliberal governmentality, and sociolinguistic and linguistic anthropological frameworks of metapragmatic analysis, this book suggests an innovative new direction for research on language and political economy, challenging the field to consider the emotionally charged experiences we have as language users as the key for understanding the place of language in neoliberalism.

The Irresistible Rise of Asian Cinema 1

1994 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald Pratley
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Motion Pictures ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
New Wave ◽  
World Today ◽  
The World ◽  
Production Activity ◽  
Exciting Development ◽  
Asian Cinema

PRODUCTION ACTIVITY It was not so many years ago it seems when speaking of motion pictures from Asia meant Japanese films as represented by Akira Kurosawa and films from India made by Satyajit Ray. But suddenly time passes and now we are impressed and immersed in the flow of films from Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, South Korea, the Philippines, with Japan a less significant player, and India and Pakistan more prolific than ever in making entertainment for the mass audience. No one has given it a name or described it as "New Wave," it is simply Asian Cinema -- the most exciting development in filmmaking taking place in the world today. In China everything is falling apart yet it manages to hold together, nothing works yet it keeps on going, nothing is ever finished or properly maintained, and yes, here time does wait for every man. But as far...

Being Mother:Comparative Study of the Contested Motherhood between South Korea and Indonesia

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 22
Author(s):  
Desintha Asriani
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Comparative Study ◽  
Cultural Issues ◽  
Family Routine ◽  
The Difference

This paper attempts to explain the discourse of motherhood in both South Korea and Indonesia. It is based on the interesting dynamic of being mother that is much influenced by the interrelated actions played by number of dominant actors around woman itself. By using a comparative study, it is found that the map or the trace of political economy in terms of developmental agenda, in fact drives the difference flows in shaping the notion of motherhood. In Indonesia, for being mother, women exist in the intersection of state intention, industrialization and culture pressure. Indonesian motherhood is interestingly in line with another analysis, such in their relation with housemaids. Meanwhile, in South Korea, the description of motherhood occurs in the middle of nationalism spirit, competition, ambience and family routine. Hence, this study concludes that being mother is highly contested and closely associated with the endless structural and cultural issues.

Japan Meets the Sharing Economy: Contending Frames

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas G ALTURA ◽  
Yuki HASHIMOTO ◽  
Sanford M JACOBY ◽  
Kaoru KANAI ◽  
Kazuro SAGUCHI
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Sharing Economy ◽  
The World ◽  
Framing Processes ◽  
Regulatory Institutions

Abstract The ‘sharing economy’ epitomized by Airbnb and Uber has challenged business, labor, and regulatory institutions throughout the world. The arrival of Airbnb and Uber in Japan provided an opportunity for Prime Minister Abe’s administration to demonstrate its commitment to deregulation. Both platform companies garnered support from powerful governmental and industry actors who framed the sharing economy as a solution to various economic and social problems. However, they met resistance from actors elsewhere in government, the private sector, and civil society, who constructed competing frames. Unlike studies that compare national responses to the sharing economy, we contrast the different experiences and fates of Airbnb and Uber within a single country. Doing so highlights actors, framing processes, and within-country heterogeneity. The study reveals the limits of overly institutionalized understandings of Japanese political economy. It also contributes to current debates concerning Prime Minister Abe’s efforts at implementing deregulation during the 2010s.

Indeterminate Subjects, Irreducible Worlds

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 75-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Yusoff
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Environmental Justice ◽  
Green Economy ◽  
Sense Organs ◽  
The World

Lodged in an impasse between questions of environmental justice and modes of capitalisation in the green economy, indeterminacy is a vulnerable and porous relation. Pollution activates a potentiality in the organism to be otherwise, to generate certain kinds of tumours, mini-deaths or mutations. Toxicity has an intermediary status that launches a mobility of effects that is often fragmented through sense organs, affirming forms of non-identity in biopolitical relations. Organisms are receptive to such bodily reconfigurations precisely because they are open to the material communication of the world. In contrast to the “hidden labour” of indeterminacy in capitalist modes of capture, this article crafts an analytics of indeterminacy as an interjection in the politics of environments. Through dispersants in the Gulf of Mexico and military bees, two economies of indeterminacy are discussed. Drawing on Georges Bataille’s notion of political economy, I argue that what is required is an economy of radical inequivalence; an excessive engagement with the possibilities of indetermining forces to make fleeting marks.

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