Pyongyang's Survival Strategy: Tools of Authoritarian Control in North Korea

2010 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Byman ◽  
Jennifer Lind
Keyword(s):  
Use Of Force ◽  
Domestic Institutions ◽  
Information Control ◽  
Policy Planning ◽  
The Past ◽  
The North ◽  
Kim Jong Il ◽  
The Future ◽  
Foreign Governments ◽  
Coups D'etat

Speculation about the future of the North Korean regime has been intense for nearly two decades. In the 1990s, economic crises and famine led to predictions of the Kim regime's imminent downfall. Today analysts highlight impending famine as well as threats to the regime's position brought by eroding information control. Several theories of authoritarian control help to explain how Kim Jong-il and his family have remained in power and how this might change over time. The Kim regime has employed a variety of authoritarian “tools” to protect itself both from popular revolt and from internal coups. Its social policies, reliance on certain ideas and nationalism, and use of force prevent the onset of revolution. Through numerous other tools (elite co-optation, manipulation of foreign governments for financial aid, and the “coupproofing” of domestic institutions), the regime protects itself from coups d'état and elite unrest. This framework not only helps to explain the past resilience of the regime, but it suggests that the regime is not in danger of being unseated by coups or revolution. Yet it also suggests that the regime has not adequately prepared for succession after Kim's death. This analysis has implications for policy planning about the future of the Korean Peninsula, as well as for negotiations with and coercive strategies toward Pyongyang.

scholarly journals Designs on the Future: Aboriginal Painted Shields and Baskets Of Tropical North Queensland, Australia

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bård Aaberge ◽  
Trish Barnard ◽  
Shelley Greer ◽  
Rosita Henry
Keyword(s):  
Aboriginal People ◽  
The Past ◽  
The North ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future

Iconic painted shields and baskets made by Aboriginal people of the North Queensland rainforest region have been collected and placed in museums all over the world. We describe the historical ethnographic context of the production and use of these things and explore transformations in their value through time. These things are of value to museums and were of value to the collectors who originally procured them. They were also of value to the Aboriginal producers and are of value today to their descendants. We reflect upon the concept of value by considering the different values that inform how the shields and baskets were valued in the past, and how their worth continues to be evaluated today.

Crossing Borders: Korean Nationalism and Contemporary Theatre

2009 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 363-378
Author(s):  
Yoo Kim
Keyword(s):  
Associate Professor ◽  
Border Crossing ◽  
Contemporary Theatre ◽  
Contested Space ◽  
South Korean ◽  
The Past ◽  
The North ◽  
Kim Jong Il ◽  
Korean Nationalism ◽  
Selection Of

In October 2007 South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun walked across the inter-Korean border for a summit with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il. Although adhering to the primordialist view of nationhood, this state-led border-crossing also indicates the effects of globalization. As the heavily militarized inter-Korean border is permeated by interaction between ethnic nationalism, the nation's anti-colonialist history, and the transnational forces, the image of border-crossing becomes a metaphor for a contested space of national unification. This article examines a selection of works by three contemporary South Korean playwrights who, from a post-nationalist perspective, have emerged to contest the contradictory aspects and trajectories of the past ten years of populist nationalism. Yoo Kim focuses on the ways these post-nationalist plays employ the motifs of border-crossing and borderland encounter to challenge the romantic and exclusionary narratives of the conventional nationalist theatre. Yoo Kim is an Associate Professor in English at Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Korea. His recent article, ‘Mapping Utopia in the Post-Ideological Era: Lee Yun-taek's The Dummy Bride’, was published in Theatre Research International in 2007.

The Anchorage, An Unexpected Journey

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adriano Maglica
Keyword(s):  
Short Term ◽  
Good Picture ◽  
North West ◽  
Limited Knowledge ◽  
The Past ◽  
The North ◽  
The Future ◽  
Routine Inspection

<p>The Älvsborg Bridge was opened to traffic in 1966. The Bridge was built between 1963 and 1966 and the bridge has undergone rehabilitation and improvement during its lifetime. The secondary hangers have been exchanged and dehumidification have been installed on the cables. Railing separating pedestrians and vehicles has been improved and the waterproofing is undergoing exchange.<p>During a routine inspection of dehumidification, aug 2016, an anchorage failure was observed. In the north west anchorage one of the fiftyfive lock coil cables was spotted laying on the bottom of the spreading chamber.<p>A number of inspections and investigations including endoscope inspections and safety calculation has been performed. Short term measurements and long term has been evaluated. Starting from limited knowledge of the condition the owner, Swedish Transport Administration (STA) now has a good picture of the condition and plans for repairs.<P>The damage highlights the need of inspection methods of “non inspectable” parts on bridges from the past as well as needs to design inspectable solutions on critical bridge parts in the future.

The Antiquary

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter Scott
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
The Past ◽  
North East ◽  
The North ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Future ◽  
Personal Favourite ◽  
Magnum Opus

‘It was early in a fine summer’s day, near the end of the eighteenth century, when a young man, of genteel appearance, having occasion to go towards the north-east of Scotland, provided himself with a ticket in one of those public carriages which travel between Edinburgh and the Queensferry...’ So begins Scott’s personal favourite among his novels, in characteristically wry and urbane style, as a mysterious young man calling himself ‘Lovel’ travels idly but fatefully toward the Scottish seaside town of Fairport. Here he is befriended by the antiquary Jonathan Oldbuck, who has taken refuge from his own personal disappointments in the obsessive study of miscellaneous history. Their slow unravelling of Lovel’s true identity will unearth and redeem the secrets and lies which have devastated the guilt-haunted Earl of Glenallan, and will reinstate the tottering fortunes of Sir Arthur Wardour and his daughter Isabella. First published in 1816 in the aftermath of Waterloo, The Antiquary deals with the problem of how to understand the past so as to enable the future. Set in the tense times of the wars with revolutionary France, it displays Scott’s matchless skill at painting the social panorama and in creating vivid characters, from the earthy beggar Edie Ochiltree to the loqacious and shrewdly humorous Antiquary himself. The text is based on Scott’s own final, authorized version, the ‘Magnum Opus’ edition of 1829.

Circassia: Remembering the Past Empowers the Future

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-215
Author(s):  
Charlotte Hille ◽  
Renée Gendron
Keyword(s):  
Direct Result ◽  
North Caucasus ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Past ◽  
The North ◽  
New Information ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Impact

This article recounts the story of how the Circassians have been able to raise awareness of their deportation in the 1860s during the Caucasian Wars. After a brief methodology the authors provide an overview of the Circassian history. The second section analyses the period when the Circassian population came under Russian rule after the 1860s. The third part focuses on three broad approaches or strategies used by several Circassian groups to increase the awareness of the Circassian subjugation in the 1860s. The last two sections discuss some of the changes that have occurred as a direct result of the work undertaken by Circassian organisations. The authours argue that the Circassians have created lieux de mémoire, especially since the beginning of the 1990s, what does not always overlap with the dominant Russian perception of history in the North Caucasus. The analysis demonstrates how the Circassians have (re)discovered their story and the impact of this new information on their actions.

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