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Routledge Handbook of Contemporary South Korea

The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary South Korea offers a ground-breaking study of the socio-political development of the Korean peninsula in the contemporary period.

Written by an international team of scholars and experts, contributions to this book address key intellectual questions in the development of Korean studies, projecting new ways of thinking about how international systems can be organised and how local societies adapt to global challenges. Academically rigorous, each chapter defines current research and lends the reader greater understanding of the social, cultural, economic, and political developments of South Korea, ranging from chapters on the Korean Wave to relations with North Korea and the Korean language overseas.

The volume is divided into eight sections, each representing a focused area of inquiry:

  • socio-political history
  • contemporary politics
  • political economy and development
  • society
  • culture
  • international relations
  • security and diplomacy
  • South Korea in international education

This handbook provides an interdisciplinary and comprehensive account of contemporary South Korea. It will be of great interest to students and scholars of Korean history, politics and international relations, culture and society, and will also appeal to policy makers interested in the Indo-Asia Pacific region.

[Source: Publisher’s website]

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction | Niki J.P. Alsford

Part 1: SOCIO-POLITICAL HISTORY

  1. Educational Development, Society, and Politics in South Korea | Michael J. Seth
  2. Historical Development of Judicial Independence in South Korea: Focus on Colonial and Post-Colonial Period | Jong-Chol An

Part 2: CONTEMPORARY POLITICS

  1. Political Structure Changes in South Korea since 1948 | Hannes B. Mosler
  2. Evolution of Political Parties and the Party System in South Korea | Youngmi Kim

Part 3: POLITICAL ECONOMY AND DEVELOPMENT

  1. History of the Developmental States: The Case of South Korea | Taekyoon Kim
  2. Chaebǒl and the Political Economy of South Korean Development, 1945 – Present | Eun Mee Kim and Nancy Y. Kim
  3. The Evolution Story of South Korea from a Fragile State to an International Actor | Sojin Lim

Part 4: SOCIETY

  1. Religion in Contemporary Korean Society: Interactions between the Past, Present and Future | Kevin N. Cawley
  2. Korean Labour Movement: The Birth, Rise and Transformation of the Democratic Trade Union Movement | Dae-oup Chang

Part 5: CULTURE

  1. Culture is Power in Dynamic Korea: Soft Power and Government Involvement in the Korean Wave | Hannah Michell
  2. Creating Our Culture Together: The Contemporary Audience for Traditional Korean Music | Cholong Sung
  3. South Korean Film: Commercial Success, Full Service Cinema and the Crisis-Consciousness | Andrew David Jackson
  4. The South Korean Literary Field and Its Recent Evolution | Eun Jin Jeong

Part 6: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

  1. South Korean National Identity and Inter-Korean Relations since 1945 | Sarah A. Son
  2. South Korean Relations with North Korea | Lonnie Edge
  3. The Past, Present and Future of United States-South Korea Relations | David Hundt
  4. Japan-South Korea International Relations | Hyung-Gu Lynn
  5. Between a Wedge and a Hedge: South Korea’s Dilemma over China Relations | Ed Griffith

Part 7: SECURITY AND DIPLOMACY

  1. Security Dimensions in Light of Changing Dynamics: The Rise of South Korea as a Global Player | Virginie Grzelczyk
  2. Continuity and Changes in South Korea’s Middle Power Diplomacy | Marco Milani

Part 8: SOUTH KOREA IN INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION

  1. Korean Language Overseas | Seon Jung Kim
  2. South Korea in the Secondary Education System in the United Kingdom | Michael Maddison, Aaron Wilkes and Richard McFahn

Entry on Goodreads.com here.

* Where the book is available from a number of sources, they are prioritised as follows: (1) Amazon UK site, or Bookshop.org for the more recent uploads (2) Amazon US site (3) Other sites in US or Europe, including second-hand outlets (4) LTI Korea, where the title is advertised as available from there (5) Onlines stores in Korea. Links to Bookshop.org and Amazon UK site contain an affiliate code which, should you make a purchase, gives a small commission to LKL at no additional cost to you.