Publications
Detailed Information
Politics, Knowledge, and Inter-Korean Affairs : Korean Public Think Tanks Not as Policy Advocates but as Knowledge Producers
Cited 0 time in
Web of Science
Cited 0 time in Scopus
- Authors
- Issue Date
- 2014-03
- Publisher
- Institute of International Relations
- Citation
- Issues & Studies, Vol. 50 no. 1, pp. 123-151
- Keywords
- Korean public think tanks ; policy advocate ; knowledge producer ; Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU) ; inter-Korean relations
- Abstract
- There were four critical undercurrents for the growth of Korean think tanks in the 1990s: democratization, the end of the Cold War, globalization coupled with local autonomy, and the expanded government budget accompanying Koreas rapid economic growth. In contrast to American think tanks which are private but normally serve as public policy advocates, most of the important Korean think tanks are supported by the government and they are not independent public policy advocates. The Korean public think tanks are highly susceptible to domestic political dynamics: for instance, the presidential offices power over the appointment of the directors. The susceptibility originates not only from the delayed democratic institutionalization of the Korean presidential system but also from the absence of financial independence, limits to the accessibility of information on policy, and the lack of professionalism in the bureaucracy. The Korea Institute for National Unification, an exemplary public think tank regarding the issue of inter-Korean relations, now focuses on research and analysis rather than policy advocacy. Alternatively, it acts as a producer of knowledge and vocabulary to envision an epistemic community for deliberating strategies of engaging with North Korea.
- ISSN
- 1013-2511
- Language
- English
- Files in This Item:
Item View & Download Count
Items in S-Space are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.