Social Sciences Seminar: "North Korea and North-east Asia: The International Politics of Power and Pride"

Abstract:

How is it possible for a country of relatively limited tangible and intangible sources of power to keep its larger neighbours on edge and hold at bay the world's superpower? This talk explores the linkages between domestic and foreign policies in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea). It examines the challenges that Kim Jong Il has faced since the mid-1990s - economic collapse, reunification frustrations, nuclear tensions, and securing the succession - and tries to explain North Korean perspectives on its relations with the four major powers which are most closely involved in and around the Korean peninsula. The concepts of strategic ambiguity and asymmetric bargaining power will be deployed to try to understand North Korean foreign policy-making.

Speaker:

Brian Bridges is Professor and Head of the Department of Political Science at Lingnan University, Hong Kong. Before joining Lingnan in 1993 he served as Head of the East Asia Programme at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London. He teaches, writes and broadcasts on the international politics of North-east Asia and is currently writing a book on how sport is used for political purposes by the two Koreas.