• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.245-271
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to examine and assess the major characteristics and changes of politics, economy, and diplomacy in Thailand in 2016. Specifically, it reviewed the New Constitution that was passed in 2016, the confrontation between different political forces and the trend of military regime around the New Constitution, and the political instability caused by the accession of the new king to the throne. This study also set out to figure out changes to the economy and foreign relations of the country, including its relations with South Korea, under the military regime and make predictions for the impact and future prospects of King Bhumibol Adulyadej's death on the politics and economy of the country. In 2016, the politics of Thailand took a step further toward the transfer of power to civil government and established a foundation for an authoritarian system. The draft of the New Constitution, which does not seem to be democratic, was approved by a referendum and enabled the military authorities to continue their political interventions, even after the general election. The New Constitution, in particular, reduces the power of political parties itself in addition to simply keeping the Thaksin's party in check; thus, anticipating ongoing conflicts between the military authorities and political parties. In this situation, the absence of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who used to play a decisive role in promoting the political stability of the country, and the accession of the new king to the throne raise concerns about the acceleration of political instability, which has continued after the coup and influenced the diplomatic relations of the country. Today, Thailand is distancing itself from Western nations that do not recognize the current military regime including the U.S.A. and EU member states and instead maintains a rapidly friendly and close relation with China. In 2016, the economy of Thailand made a gradual recovery rather than high growth. The death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej has exerted limited direct economic impacts only on individual consumption and tourism and is not likely to cause a recession. An economic crisis will, however, be unavoidable if the political confrontations escalate before the general election to transfer power to the civil government.

• 한국사회정책
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.1-23
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• 2016

This study evaluates the strategic capacity of Korean labor union movement by examining policy alternatives and strategic steps that the Federation of Korean Trade Unions and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions have shown in response to Park Geun-Hye government's labor market structuring policies. While the government-led labor reform was carried out as intended, organized labor has not simply failed to achieve progressive labor reforms to enhance employment security, but also to exert their strategic capacity effectively for preventing Park's labor market flexibilization policies. The two national centers have not been able to exert their strategic capacity (such as intermediating, framing, articulating, learning) for mobilizing the resources of internal solidarity, network embeddedness, narrative discourse, and organizational infrastructure. In particular, the formation and diffusion of public discourse is a significant part of strategic capacity of labor unions dealing with the labor politics of labor market restructuring, since organized labor, which is under the unfavorable constraints of limited movement resources and power imbalance with the business circle, needs to mobilize massive support and participation from union members and civil society organizations. In this light, it becomes of more importance for labor union movement to exert their strategic capacity toward internal solidarity and network embeddedness in the stage of labor market reforms. Under the recent stage of labor reforms, however, the labor unions has not harnessed their movement resources effectively, but undertaken their protest in a traditional manner, thereby losing its public efficacy from inside and outside. Moreover, it is necessary to build and activate the network of organic solidarity among organized labor, civil society organizations and progressive political parties, in order to cope with the pro-business coalition of power elites for accomplishing pro-labor reforms.

• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.159-212
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• 2018

This paper is focused on analyzing the social environment of a rapidly changing on Vietnamese company. The key analysis of this study is on the change of perception in Vietnam and the regional difference of CSR acception. The social acceptance research of CSR is centered on the comparative analysis of Korean, Japanese and Chinese companies Social Activities in Vietnam. In addition, This paper seek to way of contribute to the sustainable development of Korean companies, and its harmonious cooperation with Vietnamese society through reviewing the CSR activities and direction of their CSR expectation. In the paper, linkage analysis was conducted with the results of the study on CSR value development process in Vietnam society and analysis of social responsibility values obtained from empirical studies. Through this, finally, we trying to search the value of social responsibility in Vietnam and its future directions. When we understand Vietnam's CSR, based on 'locality' of Vietnam, Northern and Southern can be understand on its different backgrounds. And it can be analyzed by their CSR characteristics of acception. As the result of this research, In the North, Foreign companies' CSR is understanded to be viewed from the corporate economic income and distribution. In the South, there is a strong tendency to understand CSR activities of foreign companies as marketing activities. On the whole, In northern Hanoi, there was a strong expectation in terms of 'employment improvement' and 'workers' working conditions'. In the South, there was a greater interest in improving the 'quality of life of residents' and 'consumer protection'. This is due to the influence of the economic system experienced during the process of different colonization, modernization and communization between the two regions. Since the Reform and Opening of Vietnam, Social Awareness of CSR seems that the regional differences were formed by the pace of economic development and the economic environment has played a role. In particular, the social acceptance of CSR values showed a slight difference in recognition between the North and South regions, but as both regions showed common hope for 'intervention in the role of government'. Therefore, Social Awareness of Vietnam's CSR is based on relation of 'government-society' formed from the 'Communitarianism'. As foreign investment flows more, CSR awareness and expectations in Vietnam's society will increase further. And the CSR expectations of local governments and stakeholder will be more complicated. It is time to check the needs of Vietnamese society in relation to locality of the social responsibility activities.

• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.1-40
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• 2017

This study aims to examine the electricity/energy regime of Thailand, the largest energy-hungry country in the Mekong region. This study examined how the electricity/energy regime of Thailand has been shaped and changed up to the present, not only at the national level but also at the sub-regional level covering the Mekong region. Meanwhile, according to the Paris Agreement in 2015, which will get in to effect from 2020, developing countries as well as developed countries have been given voluntary responsibilities and reduction obligations in response to global climate change. Under the post 2020 Climate Change Regime, Thailand also needs to revise its existing electricity/energy policy. We reviewed the recent energy policy of Thailand and evaluated the possibility of transition to a sustainable energy system based on Energy Trilemma's analysis framework. And we examined the roles and impacts of the Thai civil society on the national power and energy planning as well as in the future climate change policy. As a result of the analysis, it can be seen that Thailand's electricity/energy regime has grown rapidly through the support of the West countries under the Cold War era. In particular, Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand(EGAT) played the key role in Thailand's energy policy. In addition, Thailand's geopolitical location and relatively high economic level compared to neighboring countries will continue to be of importance in the future construction of power grids in the region. Meanwhile, in the frame of Energy Trilemma, Thailand has still been vulnerable to environmental sustainability. Thai NGOs have resisted to as well as collaborated with the government to influence the existing electricity/energy policy in the various dimensions but their influence has weakened considerably since the coup in 2014. In conclusion, this study suggests to cooperate with government as well as civil society for sustainable energy transformation of Thailand and Mekong region.

• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.1-50
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• 2016

This paper aims to investigate the cultural conflicts and characteristics of anti-Korean Wave discourse taken placed among Southeast Asian countries. To do this, it takes Vietnam and Indonesia as the study cases, which have been showing a trend of anti-Korean Wave discourse as well as high popularity of Hallyu. As research methods, the paper analyzes both on-line discourses of anti-Korean Wave and the email audience interviews from both countries. The results show some significant differences between the two countries as well as the similarity that Anti-Korean Wave discourses have been actively produced and disseminated through on-line media. As for Indonesia, the Anti-Korean Wave discourse pivots on the elements clashing between Indonesia's religion and cultural values and Korean consuming culture. According to the Anti-Korean Wave discourse, K-pop contents and entertainers are criticized for damaging the society's morals and cultural identities based on Islamic rules and values. Thus, the sentiment of the Anti-Korean Wave is likely to lead to the cultural nationalism for the sake of their cultural identity. As for Vietnam, anti-Korean Wave discourse mainly consists of issues on enthusiastic K-pop fans' anti-social behaviors and generational conflicts which are presumed attributed as the chief factor of the Anti-Korean Wave. In the Vietnamese discourse, social elites and adults treat the enthusiastic K-pop fans as those who are in need of educational care or psychological therapy. Unlike the Indonesian case, anti-Korean Wave discourse in Vietnam criticized the K-pop and the performer's competence for being cheap sexy and incompetence. They also denounce Korean dramas for their trite, typical story lines, use of excessive emotion, and unrealistic nature. However, the two country's interview participants have in common both acknowledged that rather than considering the Anti-Korean Wave as an issue that needs to be resolved it should be embraced as a natural cultural phenomenon.

• (The)Study of the Eastern Classic
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• no.36
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• pp.203-228
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• 2009

ChaeHo Shin's major interests were in the ancient history, among other periods of the Korean history. Shin's depiction of history is characterized by having nation in the heart of history, whose tendency of nationalism was purposefully strong. In general, the nationalism of those times was emphasizing a 'strong' nation, just as in the case of Shin's theory, and at the same time stood for the theory of social evolution with a view to raising the nation in the front line of history. The nationalism, in association with the theory of social evolution, ended up having a propensity that criticizes imperialism on the one hand, and envies it on the other. This inclination is literally shown in Doksasillon (A New Guide to Reading History), which is ChaeHo Shin's research on the ancient history. Doksasillon is a historical essay that was published serially in 50 installments from August 27th through December 13th in 1908. Unlike the existing views in the late 1900s on the ancient history, among other ages of the Korean history, Doksasillon can be called a treatise with a focus on nation. Doksasillon is an incomplete study which can be divided into two parts, introduction and ancient times that is the first volume. It, nevertheless, shows the aspect of a powerful nation activist who tried to surmount the life-and-death crisis of nation by 'recalling' the nation in the period of the late-Joseon and the Korean empire in 1908 and 'rediscovering' the territory. It also reflects a slice of a historian's anguish that attempted to cope with the national crisis by virtue of the 'power' of history. It is ChaeHo Shin who 'rediscovered' the Buyeo tribe as the mainstream of the ancient history of Korea, and recomposed and materialized the ancient history. Shin chose the 'Buyeo tribe' as a principal race, and used it as a representative of the Korean nation in the ancient era, which was because Buyeo and Goguryeo were the strongest. The emphasis laid on the powerful nation in the history of Korea well reflects the efforts of a powerful nation activist in the age of the late-Joseon, and on the other hand, it shows how nationalism came to be formed in Korea. ChaeHo Shin is regarded as a person who lived in the age in which nationalism, which underscores the homogeneity of a nation, had to be stressed as a sole weapon for a nation who was left behind in modernization and whose rights were disseized. Dosasillon shows a process of reconstructing the history of DanKun and the Buyeo tribe and unearthing a hero who was valued as a savior of the nation, which was the reason that ChaeHo Shin wrote a history.

• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.1-52
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• 2017

This study aims to compare the state building process focusing on the founding presidents of South Korea, which was a colony of the defeated state of World War II and the Philippines, the colony of the victorious state. To this end, it compares the lives of the presidents, mainly the founding president of Korea Syngman Rhee and Manuel Quezon who led the autonomy of the Philippines and established the Commonwealth government, in the contexts of the state building process of the two countries. In each country, the leaders had to address the core tasks for founding the states in common. Firstly, after the independence or the acquisition of state autonomy, both countries adopted a constitution based on the presidential system with the strong authority of the presidents influenced by the United States. Secondly, the two countries after the independence were operated on the basis of anti-communism at the forefront of the Cold War. In addition, they also carried out land reform to bring the peasants into the system for supporting anti-communism. Lastly, the two countries also faced the same issues of liquidating the Japanese colonial legacies. Therefore the study examines the establishment of the constitution, settlement of anti-communism line, the land reform issues, and liquidation of Japanese colonialism or occupation in each country. The Philippines attained 'constitutional independence' in 1935 and experienced political development faster than any other post-colonial country in Asia. However, except for the establishment of the constitution, the early leaders were not able to address the principal issues for state building. As land reform failed, landowners became economically and politically dominant. The Philippines, where the modern citizen class has not arisen suffered from the political and economic recession. In Korea, despite the Korean War and division of the country, the founding president Syngman Rhee attempted to solve the tasks. As a result, he was able to lay the track of liberal democracy against communism and also settled Japanese colonial legacy as much as it was allowed. In particular, through land reform, he has laid the basis for the nation-state and economic development and has set up the girders of Korean economy by adopting the market economy system. Although there are merits and demerits, compared with the leaders of other countries especially with the Philippines, it is no doubt that Syngman Rhee has played an essential role in establishing the state as a founding president.

• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.95-129
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• 2017

This study surveys and reviews political change, economic performance, and regional cooperation that were carried out in 2016 by Southeast Asian countries and ASEAN. This paper reports that what has followed the inauguration of new governments in Myanmar, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Laos fails to live up to the expectation and optimism that arose in the aftermath of elections and party congresses that took place in the first half of the year. In other countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, and Cambodia, where authoritarian regimes are faced with strong oppositions, the prospects for democratic change worsened to a substantial degree, as schisms and internal strives complicated the opposition camp as a result of instigation and intervention by the authoritarian leaders and their followers. In stable political systems, both democratic and authoritarian, no significant changes that may entail serious political implications were noticed. In 2016, the national economy of almost each and every country continued its slow but steady recovery that had started in 2014 and grew by 5% on the average. For 2017 onward, however, the earlier optimism that it would grow at least as fast dimmed down as uncertainty about the world economy looms larger due to the unexpected win by Donald Trump as U.S. president and the expected 'hard landing' of the Chinese economy around 2018. ASEAN declared the launch of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) only one day before the New Year, but its track record looked already bad and unpromising by the end of 2016. ASEAN leaders were tied up by their domestic politics and affairs too tightly to take time off to work seriously to observe the schedule as laid out in the AEC Blueprint 2025. Korea's relationship with Southeast Asian countries and ASEAN was "as good as it gets" in 2016 as ever but could become subject to tough review in the near future, if the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is found out to have been implicated in the ongoing Choi Sun Sil scandal and if the opposition wins the next presidential election to be held by this year.

• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.53-94
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• 2017

Thai political regime is said to have returned to bureaucratic polity or semi-democracy. However this kind of perspective do not find the political interference of Privy Council which is a body of Monarch of Thailand. Therefore this paper tries to discover the unique traits of Thai way of constitutional monarchy which can be defined as the modern form of absolute monarchy. In short Thai way of constitutional monarchy based on network politics is contradictary to the normal constitutional monarchy whose norm is "the king reigns, but does not rule." This means Thai king is in politics not above politics in reality. Thai monarchy has interfered in diversive way in terms of mediating political conflicts and protecting the monarchy as a institution. In this process the king has been worshiped as demigod who practises the Buddhist doctrine and the centre of national integration. Even after the 6 Ocober 1976 massacre which the palace involved King Bhumibol Adulyadej's sacred position was not challenged. Rather $l{\grave{e}}se-majest{\acute{e}}$ law became more draconian for status quo. Since then $l{\grave{e}}se-majest{\acute{e}}$ was cited as one of the major rationale for the military coup. The 2006 coup which was triggered by the clash between network Monarchy and bourgeois polity based on Thakin network marked a surge of the $l{\grave{e}}se-majest{\acute{e}}$ cases. The 2014 coup had consecutively increased the number of $l{\grave{e}}se-majest{\acute{e}}$ prisoners. It can be said that the modern form of absolute monarchy in Thailand including bureaucratic polity, semi-democracy and democracy is bounded by $l{\grave{e}}se-majest{\acute{e}}$ law which network monarchy players such as military, intellectuals, Democrat Party and even some civil society groups support.

• (The)Study of the Eastern Classic
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• no.71
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• pp.99-128
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• 2018

Zhōuyì周易 is intended to explain the affairs of human beings by observing the images and works of all things in the universe, abstracting them into the $b{\bar{a}}gu{\grave{a}}$八卦, calculating the process and inducing the outcome by the method of stalk divination, in which this paper finds the origin of natural scientific thought of Zhōuyì. The way of Zhōuyì's thought on the natural science is distinguished from that of the Western's. In the West, people dismantled the objects into the parts until they reached the atom and analyzed them by the principle of causality to draw an axiomatic truth. In the meantime Zhōuyì observed and studied the dynamic functions and changes of all things for the convergence of the whole. While the way of Zhōuyì's thinking could have not contributed to the development of modern scientific development, that of the West overwhelmed Asian development passing through the period of enlightenment during 16-17 century. This paper tries to articulate the points where Zhōuyì can share its theory with the contemporary science by finding the traces of scientific thoughts in Zhōuyì. It encounters its ground from the methodology of natural science and scientific statements proposed by Zhōuyì. The essential concepts of Zhōuyì are induced from all things in nature. This can be considered as the idea of '法自然'(emulating the patterns and examples from nature). Also they observed the images and changes seen by the habits of animals, plants and human beings to sense and perceive their laws. These are regarded as the methodology of natural science in Zhōuyì. As a book of divination, the way of stalk divination is designed to calculate the future by using the system of 'numbers'. 'tàijí太極', ' yīnyáng陰陽', 'four symbols四象', '$b{\bar{a}}gu{\grave{a}}$八卦' and 'wǔxíng五行' are the essential concepts of Zhōuyì to represents the dynamic phenomena and changes of the natural order. Among them '$b{\bar{a}}gu{\grave{a}}$八卦' is a presentment to explain the structure of the world not by the individual analysis of things but by the unification of the whole through the contradictions and interchanges among them to reach the new orders. As of now, the studies of Zhōuyì in Korea have focused on the traditional perspectives, such as political and ethical philosophy. Some of recent studies, having interpreted Zhōuyì with scientific inclination have generated controversy 'Can Zhōuyì be a science?', for which scholars have hard time to reach the agreement. This paper tries to find the headwaters of the contemporary natural science by elaborating the methodology of natural science stated in Zhōuyì.