34730 - Political And Social Development In Korea

Learning outcomes

At the end of this course, the student should be able to analyze the concepts of political and social development with regards to some asian countries, in particular the Republic of Korea. In detail, the student should: - refer to a global framework the development of political process of some of the countries taken into analysis; - analyze the main topics and problems referring to the political, economic and social development of asian countries; - understand the main "critical junctures"as the processes of democratization of some countries in the area or the economic reforms pre and post 1997-8 crisis; - understand the relevance of civil society in the political scenario of these countries; - discuss the most important phenomena in the political development of asian countries.

Course contents

The course focuses on the political development of Korea from the beginning of the Japanese colonial domination (1910). This juncture is extremely important also in relation to the formation of the civil society - notably against the Japanese - on the peninsula. Starting from these events, the political development of the country is analyzed chronologically focusing in particular on the events that concur - soon after the end of the second World War - to the "fracture" of the peninsula into two distinct entities. The "substantial" separation of the peninsula will be followed by its "formal" separation. After having examined the events of the Korean War, the attention will be focused exclusively on the Republic of Korea, studying in detail the characteristics of the First Republic. Afterwards the political and economic conditions of the authoritarian period of Park Chung-hee will be taken into account, and great attention will be devoted to the analyses of the Developmental State model in Korea. Another crucial point to be analyzed will be the process of democratization, started in 1987. This process represents a fundamental juncture in the history of the country and a complete fracture with the previous political regime: therefore it must be analyzed in its complexity. The analysis of the Korean political system will then take into account the democratic junctures represented by the elections of Kim Young-Sam and - above all - Kim Dae-Jung. Kim Dae-Jung's presidential election, in fact, marks the beginning of a new period in the country. In this sense, the 1997-98 financial crisis will be examined in detail, since it had enormous political repercussions. The political scenario will be presented up to the election of Lee Myung-Bak in 2007.  Hand in hand with the analysis of the political development, it will be necessary to examine the condition of Korean civil society that, without any doubts, has greatly determined the direction of some political choices. It must not be forgot that the pressure of civil society has determined the collapse of the authoritarian regime in Korea and the following transition to the democratic regime. For this reason, the development of civil society in Korea will be taken into account, by also studying the most important features of the several social movements that have composed it in the last decades.

Readings/Bibliography

Essential readings:

John Kie-Chiang Oh, The Quest for Democratization and Economic Development, Cornell Un. Press, 1999. 

Sunhyuk Kim, Politics of Democratization in Korea: the Role of Civil Society, Un. of Pittsburgh Press, 2000. 

Michael Edwards, Civil Society, Polity, 2004.

The reading of other papers will be suggested directly by the instructor. 

Students who decide not to attend classes will have to integrate the program with the reading of the following book:

Jean L. Cohen & Andrew Arato, Civil Society and Political Theory, The MIT Press, 1994.

Teaching methods

Lectures will be given in italian and - often - some "summarizing" slides will be projected. Students will be always solicited to discuss critically what they have studied. Students will be frequently asked to read and comment some articles. From time to time some short films will be shown to allow students to have a visual comparison with the topics dealt with in class.

Assessment methods

Final oral exam. During the course, in any case, it will be mandatory to conduct individual research and present a paper.

Teaching tools

Slides and short films.

Office hours

See the website of Antonio Fiori