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--></style><title>KSR 2004-01: _Korea and Globalization: Politics,
Econo</title></head><body>
<div><i>Korea and Globalization: Politics, Economics and Culture</i>,
by James Lewis and Amadu Sesay. London and New York: RoutledgeCurzon,
2002, 245 pp. (ISBN: 0-7007-1512-6; cloth).</div>
<div><br>
<br>
reviewed by Doowon Suh<br>
Korea University</div>
<div>dwsuh@korea.ac.kr<br>
</div>
<div><x-tab>
</x-tab><i>Korea and Globalization</i>, edited by James Lewis and
Amadu Sesay, deals with one of the most critical trends of social
transformation in the contemporary world - the issue of globalization
- and examines how South Korea (hereafter Korea) has undergone the
process. According to the authors, globalization is a mega-trend in
which the boundaries of a nation-state become no longer a significant
barrier to the free flow of information, technology, industrial goods,
capital assets, culture and so forth. Globalization is also a wave
from whose direct and indirect influences no single nation-state can
be totally immune, and in which multilateral relationships between
nations and their increasing networking become more dominant than
ever. Since it is a sweeping process affecting the entire world,
globalization embraces diverse dimensions, whose individual aspects
are shaped by multiple factors, some unique to each country and others
extending across national boundaries.</div>
<div><br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>The eight
articles included in the book well represent the multidimensional
nature of globalization: they cover issues of (1) everyday social
life, (2) industrial relations and capitalist development, (3)
political economy and society, (4) culture and values, (5) the
Korea-Japan relationship, (6) religion, (7) literature, and (8)
Korea's participation in international organizations (specifically the
UN's peace-keeping operations). According to the authors, Korea has
made steady, notable progress in adjusting to the phenomenon of
globalization; however, as in other cases of great transformation, the
process of globalization in Korea has not been free of trouble. There
still remain significant obstacles for Korea to overcome in order to
sustain both the remarkable industrialization and modernization that
the nation has achieved during the past four decades, and the
political democratization that has been underway since the late 1980s.
For instance, as James Lewis aptly points out in his article,
"<i>The Japan That Does Not Exist</i> and<i> The Ugly
Korean</i>," the bilateral relationship between Korea and Japan
has a long history, but popular sentiment in the two nations has been
mutually hostile for a variety of reasons, most of which derive
especially from Japan's colonization of Korea between 1910 and 1945. A
strong sense of nationalism among lay Koreans has its primary essence
in a widely shared anti-Japanese mentality that springs from the
nation's sufferings during the colonial period. This hostility has
been strategically manipulated by Korea's authoritarian governments,
and its role as a virtual "state religion" has offered a
critical impetus to rapid and remarkable economic growth. Such
antagonistic feelings between the two nations, however, must diminish
in order for Korea and Japan to collaborate in designing an
Asia-Pacific community and accomplish regional integration in a new
epoch of globalization.<br>
<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>This fine book provides
a welcome introduction for students of Korean history and society to
the various trajectories of Korea's globalization. It is highly
informative and insightful, and well grounded in detailed descriptions
of diverse aspects of globalization. Some drawbacks, however, function
as obstacles to the reader's clear and comprehensive understanding of
the globalization process in Korea. First, although economic change
acts as the primary driving force behind globalization, neither the
new trend of neoliberal economic restructuring, which is foreign to
the Korean economy, nor the paths of the nation's development made
possible by the state-led, export-oriented, and protectionist policies
of its authoritarian regimes, are sufficiently discussed. Moreover, no
articles in the book extend their argument to scrutinize the processes
and consequences of the financial crisis in 1997. This gap is a
significant drawback given that the subsequent austere economic
restructuring policies imposed by the IMF inflicted severe damage on
both ordinary people's lives and the nation's economic structure while
at the same time facilitating globalization in economic terms. The
inclusion of discussions of globalization processes in the
post-financial crisis period would have made the book more
up-to-date.</div>
<div><br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Secondly,
Korea's trading and diplomatic relationships with the US, Japan, China
and North Korea itself have not only been changing rapidly but also
developing in a much more complicated and crucial manner than ever
since "segyehwa" (globalization) was introduced as a
buzzword by the Kim Young Sam administration (1993-1997). This lack of
systematic analysis of Korea's relationship with her neighbors causes
the volume to miss out on a pivotal facet of globalization.<br>
<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Third, domestic politics in Korea have
undergone a tremendous change in recent years in the transition from
the authoritarian regime to democracy and its consolidation. The
sustainability of this political democratization is integral to
Korea's economic restructuring. Many developing countries, including
Korea, are thus faced with a daunting situation in which they have to
successfully accomplish both political democratization and neoliberal
economic restructuring. The extent to which democratization and
restructuring can mutually reinforce and empower each other will be
fundamental to the steady progress of globalization. It is therefore
lamentable to see the absence of attention to these two factors and
their interactions in the book.<br>
<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Finally, too many
mistakes in the Romanization of Korean names and places in the
McCune-Reischauer system regrettably detract from the work. One of the
editors apologizes to the reader for unanticipated encounters with
such mistakes in the Introduction (p. 9); nonetheless, this cannot be
deemed a fair excuse in an academic work, given the potential for
confusion that such mistakes can create.<br>
<br>
<br>
Citation:<br>
Suh, Doowon 2004</div>
<div>Review of<i> Korea and Globalization: Politics, Economics and
Culture</i>, ed. by James Lewis and Amadu Sesay (2002)</div>
<div><i>Korean Studies Review</i> 2004, no. 01</div>
<div>Electronic file: http://koreaweb.ws/ks/ksr/ksr04-01.htm</div>
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