Documents found
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Processus, organisation et fonctionnement des relations nippo-nord-coréennes. Essai d'interprétation
More informationDespite a lot of efforts expended since the beginning of the 90s, the diplomatic normalization between Japan and North Korea is still an uncertain and distant goal. Besides bilateral conflicts, the deployment of Japan's foreign policy toward North Korea is constrained by both the balance of powers within the peninsula and the limited impact at home of the various unofficial networks between the two countries. If pro-Pyongyang organizations in Japan are likely to have on influence on low key and limited issues, they are not strong enough to act as powerful pressure groups on the decision making process. Historically, Tokyo's attempts to improve Us relations with Pyongyang were primarily dependent on the peculiar channels of communication provided by the Japanese Socialist Party (JSP). But these efforts were also hampered by leadership competition between political parties and the ministry of Foreign Affairs over the normalization issue. The participation of a weakening JSP in coalition governments between 1993 and 1997 did not lead to any significant move because of the complexity of policy adjustements in this context, but resulted in a tougher official standing supported by both the Gaimushô and the Liberal Democrats anxious to preserve close relationships with Seoul and Washington.
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23.More information
This paper attempts to falsify the hypothesis that under an appropriate configuration of variables, the diffusion of norms pertaining to a democratic civil-military regime is possible across cultures. It uses South Korea as a case study for that purpose because that country has been considerably influenced by the United States but also remains vastly different culturally and displays many of the least auspicious variables for the diffusion of democratic norms. How much South Korea has gone towards the adoption of a democratic civil-military regime is discussed in light of a succinct historical review of civil-military regimes since the creation of the ROK and an interim assessment of the current civil-military regime. The article argues that South Korea has done remarkably well in implementing a democratic civil-military regime, despite the absence of critical factors that should have helped to achieve it. The finding points toward the need for a reassessment of the explanatory variables used to understand the diffusion of regimes across cultures.
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For the past fifteen years, and especially since the law on cooperatives in 2012, there has been a very interesting revival of the cooperative model in Korea. For a long time seen as a sort of public agency like the traditional cooperatives set up by the government in the primary and banking sectors in the 1960s, cooperatives are now recognised as an independent firm model with certain advantages, particularly in terms of job creation and local development. This article analyses the new interest in the cooperative model by showing how it gradually developed starting from the pioneering experiences in the late 1980s of public policies aimed at promoting social enterprise through to the 2012 law which produced a cooperative boom.
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25.More information
Japan has abdicated from any important regional military role by restricting its relatively small forces to defence of Japan only. However, by hosting us military bases and by implementing the new Japan-us Defence Cooperation Guidelines, it may become involved in any tension or conflict over Taiwan between the us and China. Such conflict threatens Japan's role as an indispensable economic partner for all of its neighbors with its vast investment capital, trade, and aid. During the tidal wave of foreign criticism of its handling of its own economic problems, overlooked has been Japan's continuing generous loans and credits to its neighbors. Even with renewed tension over North Korea, probably the most serious problem for Japan remains the trend toward a new Cold War with China, led by the us, egged on by its hawks especially in the Congress.
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