Korea and Globalization: Politics, Economics and Culture, reviewed by Doowon Suh

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KOREAN STUDIES REVIEW

Korea and Globalization: Politics, Economics and Culture, by James Lewis and Amadu Sesay. London and New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2002, 245 pp. (ISBN: 0-7007-1512-6; cloth)

Reviewed by Doowon Suh
Korea University

        Korea and Globalization, 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.

        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, "The Japan That Does Not Exist and The Ugly Korean," 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.

        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.

        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.

       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.

      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.

Citation:
Suh, Doowon 2004
Review of Korea and Globalization: Politics, Economics and Culture, ed. by James Lewis and Amadu Sesay (2002)
Korean Studies Review 2004, no. 01
Electronic file: http://koreanstudies.com/ks/ksr/ksr04-01.htm

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