• Title/Summary/Keyword: Cold War era

Search Result 42, Processing Time 0.021 seconds

Revisiting Transnational American Studies: Race and the Whale in Melville's Moby-Dick

  • Kang, Yeonhaun
    • Journal of English Language & Literature
    • /
    • v.64 no.4
    • /
    • pp.585-600
    • /
    • 2018
  • Over the last three decades, the field of American Studies has increasingly paid attention to transnational approaches in an effort to diversify and expand the field's concerns beyond the narrow sense of the nation-state in today's globalizing world. Yet, the mediation of the transnational requires a careful analysis of the nation that is still in transit. In this context, this essay examines Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick (1851) as a case study that vividly shows how reading American literature and culture through transnationalism not only offers new interpretations of canonical texts, but also helps us to better understand the historical roots and cultural contexts of contemporary issues such as global labor and migration, US citizenship and racial justice. To address the complexity of the text's circulation and reproduction, coupled with US national ideology and cultural conditions, I first turn to the canonization of Melville's Moby-Dick during the Cold War era as a national project and then explore the possibilities of transnational readings by focusing on the politics of race and global capitalism in the nineteenth century whaling industry. In doing so, I argue that critical transnationalism allows readers to keep questioning about their own understanding of race, nation, and cultural identity while remaining attentive to the destructive force of US imperialism and global capitalism in the twenty-first century.

The Social Identity Dynamics of Soft Power Narrative Influence: Great Power Diplomatic Bargaining Leverage Amidst Complex Interdependence

  • DeDominicis, Benedict E.
    • International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
    • /
    • v.10 no.3
    • /
    • pp.127-145
    • /
    • 2022
  • Vaccine diplomacy is a manifestation of competition for political influence among great powers amidst the Covid-19 pandemic's blatant illustration of ineluctable interdependency across the global community. The reinforcement of trends bolstering global polity construction intensify concomitantly with nationalist populist value and attitude expressions increasing political polarization. The interdependency graphically illustrated in the Cold War-era's mutual assured destruction incentivized competition into indirect competitive intervention in the internal politics of third actors. Indirect international influence contestations included extended, de facto challenge competitions to generate soft power on behalf of the victor, e.g., the space race. The Covid-19 pandemic has intensified this competition to offer alternative development models while intense domestic political polarization undermines the mobilizational capacities for achieving sustainable development. In contrast to multinational and multiethnic states, nation states have an inherent mobilizational advantage because of the enhanced control capabilities available to the authorities without emphasizing coercion. Control through Gramscian hegemonic mechanisms is more readily feasible in nation states through the greater feasibility of commodification of social relations by states authorities regulating and channeling social competition to encourage social mobility and creativity. The regulation of the so-called private sector serves to manage and contain social competition while channeling it to develop the institutional capacities for control and allocation of developing societal human resources. It enhances developed state control mechanisms and international influence capacities. The appeal of offers of aid and assistance to the so-called developing world becomes ever more urgent amidst Anthropocene crises including its most recent, current Covid-19 pandemic disaster.

Political Geography of Ulsan Oil Refinery (울산공업단지의 서막, 정유공장 건설의 정치지리)

  • Gimm, Dong-Wan;Kim, Min-Ho
    • Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
    • /
    • v.49 no.2
    • /
    • pp.139-159
    • /
    • 2014
  • This study problematizes the dominance of developmental state theory and its negative influences in the field of Korean studies, in particular, dealing with the industrialization during the developmental era, 1960s~70s. As is generally known, the theory has been in a position of unchallenged authority on the industrialization experience of East Asian countries, including South Korea. However, at the same time, it has also misled us into overlooking strategic relations that had articulated the state forms at multiple scales. This study aims to reconstruct the historical contexts by the theorizing prompted by recent work on state space. I shed light on the multiscalar strategic relations that had shaped the Ulsan refinery plant as a representative state space of the South Korean industrialization during two decades after liberation. Specifically, the study illustrates the features and roles of Cold War networks and multiscalar agnets such as Nam Goong-Yeon. By identifying the plant as a result of sequential articulations between Ulsan and other scales, this study concludes by suggesting to reframing the strategic relational spaces, beyond the view of methodological nationalism, in the perspective of multiscalar approach.

  • PDF

New Middle Powers' ODA: Korean Aid Strategy for Economic Infrastructure and Production Sector Building (신흥 중견국가의 공적개발원조: 한국의 경제 시설 및 생산 분야 중점지원 전략)

  • Jang Ji-Hyang
    • Journal of International Area Studies (JIAS)
    • /
    • v.14 no.3
    • /
    • pp.421-440
    • /
    • 2010
  • This paper examines middle powers' ODA policy in the post cold war era and discusses its implication for Korean aid strategy. Middle powers' ODA has been more successful than that of super powers in promoting donors' positive images and in stimulating recipient countries' development. Middle powers tend to pursue multilateral solutions to international problems often by taking a mediator role, and their ODA policies set them apart from the great players in international politics. Middle powers' ODA is primarily aimed at reducing poverty and protecting human rights in least developed countries where humanitarian aid needs the most rather than promoting donors' interests. Also, middle powers have provided bilateral untied aid in the sectors of food aid and emergency relief and steadily devoted about 0.7% of their gross national income to ODA. Meanwhile, Korea as an emerging middle power and a new donor has been implementing its own aid strategy under the name of the Korean development model since the post cold war period. The Korean ODA was not successful in building donors' positive images by simply following the short term strategies of US and Japan. Yet, its ODA policy has been quite effective in sustaining local development by creating specific niches in which the country can specialize in. In specific, Korea has focused on developing the sectors of information and communication technology and industry energy in recipients' countries by maximizing its comparative advantage.

The Historical Understanding of the U. S. Secret Records Management (미국의 비밀기록관리체제에 대한 역사적 이해)

  • Lee, Kyong-Rae
    • The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
    • /
    • no.23
    • /
    • pp.257-297
    • /
    • 2010
  • The U. S. government has a long history to classify and manage governmental records which are created, collected, and preserved for itself. During the colonial period before the independence, the U. S. mostly practiced the maintenances of secret records and restrictions of access to the records following a long convention without any specific legal authority. Since establishment of the U. S. Constitution, the government had kept secret records on the basis of constitutional authority. However, the U. S. government began to take shape the secret records management system when it participated in the World War I, which required the system to reflect the needs in reality to manage drastic increases in important military and foreign relation documents. The World War II made the U. S. government strengthen its secret records management system, and its conception of secret records management system at that time has sustained until now. It can be said that the current secret records management system of the U. S. government continues to be managed by constitutional authorities and the executive orders which are opt to change. This article intends to review the secret records management system of the U. S. from the initial history of the U. S. to the Cold War. To understand its system of secret management, the paper investigates the U. S. secret records management history by dividing into three periods: the period of establishment of its tradition(the Colonial era~just before the WWI); the period of taking shape of its system (the WWI~the WWII); and the period of current conception of its system. The criteria of these divisions are created based on the differences of the laws relevant to the secret records and the application methods of secret management system in reality.

A study on Korea's defense export expansion strategy - Focusing on Korea-Poland Defense Export Case - (한국의 방산수출 확대 전략 연구 - 한·폴란드 방산수출 사례를 중심으로 -)

  • Geum-Ryul Kim
    • Convergence Security Journal
    • /
    • v.23 no.4
    • /
    • pp.141-151
    • /
    • 2023
  • Since the end of the Cold War in the 1990s, European countries have cut defense costs and reduced armaments as an era of peace without large-scale wars continues, and as a result, the West's defense industry base has gradually weakened. On the other hand, South Korea, the world's only divided country, was able to achieve high growth in the defense industry as a result of continuous arms strengthening in the face of North Korea's nuclear and missile threats. With the rapid increase in demand for conventional weapons systems and changes in the structure of the global defense market due to the Russia-Ukraine war, Korea's weapons system drew great attention as a large-scale defense export contract with Poland was signed in 2022. In 2023, K-Defense ranked ninth in the world's arms exports and aims to become the world's fourth-largest defense exporter by 2027. Therefore, this study analyzed the case of Korea-Poland defense exports to derive problems, and presented development strategies related to export revitalization of K-Defense, a national strategic industry. In order for the defense industry to become Korea's next growth engine, it is necessary to establish a defense organization, prepare government-level measures to protect defense industry technology, and expand military and security cooperation with allies linked to defense exports.

Islamist Strategic Changes against U.S. International Security Initiative (미국(美國)의 대외안보전략(對外安保戰略)에 대응한 이슬람Terrorism의 전술적(戰術的) 진화(進化))

  • Choi, Kee-Nam
    • Korean Security Journal
    • /
    • no.14
    • /
    • pp.517-534
    • /
    • 2007
  • Since the beginning of human society, there have always been struggles and competitions for survival and prosperity, terrorism is not a recent phenomenon, however in modern times it has progressed to reflect the advances in civilization and power structures. At the time of the 9.11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. A., a new world order was in the process of being established after the breakdown of the Cold War era. The attacks drove both the Western and the Islamic worlds into heightened fear of terrorism and war, which threatened the quality of life of the whole mankind. Through two war campaigns against the Islamic world, it seems the U.S. has been pushing its own militaristic security road map of the Greater Middle East democratic initiative, justifying it as a means to retaliate and eradicate the terrorist threats towards themselves. However, with its five-year lopsided victories that cost the nation almost four thousand military casualties, and the war expenses that could match the Vietnam war, the U.S. does not yet seem to be totally emancipated from the fears of terrorism. Terrorism, in itself, is a means of resisting forced rules a form of alternative competition by the weak against the strong, and a way of expressing a dismissive response against dictatorial ideas or orders which allow for no normal changes. Intrinsically, the nature of terrorism is a reaction opposing power logics. Confronted with the absolute military power of the U.S., the Islamic strategies of terrorism have begun to rapidly evolve into a new stage. The new strategies take advantage of their civilization and circumstances, they train and inspire their front-line fighters on the Internet, and issue their orders through the clandestine network of the Al Qaeda operatives. These spontaneously generated strategies have been gained speed among the second, and third Islamic generations, many of whom are now spread throughout western societies. This represents a failure of the power-driven, one-sided overseas security initiatives by the U.S., and is creating a culture of fear and distrust in western societies. It is feared that the U.S. war campaigns have made the clash of religions far worse than before, and may ever lead to global ethnic separations and large-scale population movements. Eventually, it may result in the terrorist groups, enlarged and secretly supported by the huge sums of oil money, driving all mankind into a series of irreparable catastrophes.

  • PDF

A Study on Determination of the Matching Size of IKONOS Stereo Imagery (IKONOS 스테레오 영상의 매칭사이즈 결정연구)

  • Lee, Hyo-Seong;Ahn, Ki-Weon;Lee, Chang-No;Seo, Doo-Cheon
    • Proceedings of the Korean Society of Surveying, Geodesy, Photogrammetry, and Cartography Conference
    • /
    • 2007.04a
    • /
    • pp.201-205
    • /
    • 2007
  • In the post-Cold War era, acquisition technique of high-resolution satellite imagery (HRSI) has begun to commercialize. IKONOS-2 satellite imaging data is supplied for the first time in the 21st century. Many researchers testified mapping possibility of the HRSI data instead of aerial photography. It is easy to renew and automate a topographical map because HRSI not only can be more taken widely and periodically than aerial photography, but also can be directly supplied as digital image. In this study matching size of IKONOS Geo-level stereo image is presented lot production of digital elevation model (DEM). We applied area based matching method using correlation coefficient of pixel brightness value between the two images. After matching line (where "matching line" implies straight line that is approximated to complex non-linear epipolar geometry) is established by exterior orientation parameters (EOPs) to minimize search area, the matching is tarried out based on this line. The experiment on matching size is performed according to land cover property, which is divided off into four areas (water, urban land, forest land and agricultural land). In each of the test areas, window size for the highest correlation coefficient is selected as propel size for matching. As the results of experiment, the proper size was selected as $123{\times}123$ pixels window, $13{\times}13$ pixels window, $129{\times}129$ pixels window and $81{\times}81$ pixels window in the water area, urban land, forest land and agricultural land, respectively. Of course, determination of the matching size by the correlation coefficient may be not absolute appraisal method. Optimum matching size using the geometric accuracy therefore, will be presented by the further work.

  • PDF

Relocation of German Capital to Berlin and its Geographical Implications (독일의 수도이전 : 베를린 천도과정과 그 함의)

  • Ahn, Young-Jin;Park, Young-Han
    • Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
    • /
    • v.7 no.4
    • /
    • pp.33-47
    • /
    • 2001
  • This paper is to examine the decision-making process and various institutional engagements for the relocation of the German capital to Berlin and to identify its geographical implications. Germany had faced many difficult problems in the way of the national reunification, but achieved it peacefully. Just after the unification, the new location of the capital(Bundeshauptstadt) for the united Germany between the authentic capital 'Berlin' and the real democratic capital 'Bonn' was intensely discussed in the parliament as well as in public. Finally Berlin was chosen for the new location by the decision of the parliament and during the ten years after the decision, the German government tried to prepare all the requirements for the capital relocation. The physical relocation of the capital came to an end with the move of both the parliament and the administration to Berlin in september of 1999. However, its political, economic, and socio-psychological impacts still remain strong and are likely to continue. This relocation could symbolize the national identity building through the real integration between East Berlin and West Berlin as well as between East Germany and West Germany. It is, furthermore, closely related to the geo-political and geo-economic roles of Germany in a new European constellation in the post-Cold War era.

  • PDF

The Path Taken by Korean Studies in the U.S. and the Path Korean Humanities Should Take - Youngju Ryu's Writers of the Winter Republic: Literature and Resistance in Park Chung Hee's Korea (미국 한국학이 가는 길, 한국 인문학이 나아갈 길 -유영주(Youngju Ryu), 『겨울 공화국의 작가: 박정희 시대 한국의 문학과 저항(Writers of the Winter Republic: Literature and Resistance in Park Chung Hee's Korea)』)

  • Chong, Ki-In
    • Journal of Popular Narrative
    • /
    • v.25 no.2
    • /
    • pp.279-302
    • /
    • 2019
  • This paper introduces Youngju Ryu's Writers of the Winter Republic: Literature and Resistance in Park Chung Hee's Korea, and examines its significance and limitations. The book examines the relationship between literature and politics during the Park Chung-hee Yushin era, focusing on Yang Sŏng-u, Kim Chi-ha, Yi Mun-gu, Cho Se-hŭi, and Hwang Sok-yong. The books starts by describing the relationship between the U.S. hegemony and the Park Chung-hee regime during the Cold War. The book shows how poets like Yang and Kim fought against the Park Chung-hee regime based on poems, trial records and memoirs, while it describes novelists such as Yi's resistance by how novels envisioned a community against the Park administration based on the keyword "neighborhood." This is significant in that it describes how literature from the Park Chung-hee era was able to stand on the front lines against the regime. However, it is regrettable that because the book adopts a heroic tale to describe their lives and literature, these are illuminated in a somewhat flat way. Also it is noteworthy that the lives and works of novelists after the 2000s were illuminated, but Yang and Kim's life and literature were not described. Furthermore, it is regrettable that women writers were not mentioned and its concept of "politics" is rather shallow. Overall, this book is very significant in that it introduces the relationship between Korean literature and politics in the Korea of the 1970s with rich data and a beautiful style, as well as allowing Korean studies researchers to reflect on the future of Korean studies.