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In recent years, there has been an influx of Korean popular culture throughout the world, including East Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Korean popular culture, also known as the “Korean Wave” (Hallyu in Korean) ranges from television dramas, movies, popular music (K-pop), dance (B-boys), video game, food, fashion, tourism, and language (Hangul). The main focus of this paper is to examine the essence of the Korean Wave and its impact on the world. In particular, this paper aims to explore the relationships between the spread of the Korean Wave and political and social changes in a global perspective. That is, does the Korean Wave affect the political position and diplomatic leverage of Korea in any meaningful way? Toward this objective, this paper first examines the relevant literature of international relations for policy and culture change, especially with regards to globalization, interdependence, soft power and world value change. Then, recent developments of the Korean Wave are reviewed and critically analyzed in order to ascertain political and policy implications for Korean diplomatic and practical directives. Finally, we will draw an interpretive conclusion and recommendations toward the plausibility of the Korean Wave as a policy tool for Korea’s cultural diplomacy.

East Asia's economy grew rapidly from the 1970s through 2000s: Its population now constitutes about 50% of the world's population and its economic output, 45% of the GDP. In recent years, East Asia has become an important place for the Chilean economy, because it also constitutes the most dynamic market for Chilean exports, with reported annual growth rates of over 200%. This paper examines the Chilean economy and its enterprises with respect to those of the East Asian economic models of Keiretsu (Japan), Commonwealth (China), and Chaebol (South Korea), using a case study approach to understand the ways in which these East Asian economic models have affected economic performance and development. Our analysis shows that job specifications in East Asian structure are less detailed and not strictly tied to individual tasks, and that formal rules and procedures tend to be interpreted rather flexibly, which is similar to Chilean structures. This similarity could allow Chile to better understand Asia's success and to achieve a higher level of performance in its own operations. Economic groups and medium Chilean enterprises could learn from the ways in which Keiretsu, Commonwealth, and Chaebol expand into the global market, using different sources of competitive advantage, achieving higher efficiency and risk management, and developing more innovations.

In this article, we begin by reviewing the literature regarding the interaction between national bureaucratic systems and international actors and institutions. In particular, we find Keohane and Nye's notion of “complex interdependence” to be useful in understanding the emerging interactions and multifaceted nature of public administration. This is demonstrated by a case study of the successful partnership between Fiat and Chrysler, in which several public bureaucracies were essential. We conclude with our observations about public administration in an increasingly interdependent and globalizing world and offer an agenda for future research in the field.

Since the mid 1980s, Chinese security analysts have debated China's role in the changing international system. Sharp increases in Chinese military spending indicate that China plans to reshape the international economic and military balance of power. Much of China's economic growth is the product of its investment in Africa. Some are concerned that Beijing's more recent relations with Africa are part of its strategy to become the new global hegemony. A primary question is: Which choice will China make? We analyze three perspectives on Beijing's role in African Affairs. The first view holds that China is fulfilling a long-term strategic commitment to Africa that is driven by Chinese economic interests, a commitment to transmit and transfer its own development assistance, and a desire to build effective cooperative partnerships among developing nation-states. The second view is that Chinese policy is to quickly exploit Africa's natural resources, without, like their Western economic counterparts, paying much consideration to local developmental, environmental concerns or human rights issues. The third view emphasizes China's African policy as part of a long-term strategy to displace the Western orientation of the continent by forging partnerships with African elites under the rubric of solidarity.

The purpose of this study is to analyze global income inequalities by examining neo-classical, dependency, and statist analyses. The present study utilizes both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses for developing and less developed countries for the time frames of the 1970s and 1990s. The cross-sectional analyses tend to suggest that while the level of economic development partially affects income distribution, structural constraint of land tenure offers a greater explanation. The longitudinal analyses suggest that changes in income inequality are best explained by the nature and policies of the state in question.

This analysis examines initiatorsof specific issues within one large and encompassingpolicy domain in Congress, agriculture. The data arefrom an extensive survey of congressional members andstaff from stratified random samples of 113 individualoffices. One purpose is to determine differences betweenmembers with an agenda of new issues and those whobehave as maintainers of existing policy. The analysisalso finds that the circumstances of a postreformCongress enhance the importance of district effects onissue selection. These effects create substantiallymore congressional players within the domain thanwould be expected in much of the literature. Moreover,the behavior of these issue initiators seems largelydetermined by identifiable characteristics of theirhome-district populations. Those and other findings,especially the high rate of initiator success, callinto serious question many existing assumptions aboutexclusivity and specialization in committeedeliberations. It suggests instead that home-stylebehavior comes to Washington politics in ways thatexpand significantly the range of policy players.

An assumption shared by most agricultural economists is that, as farm numbers decline in a democratic government, farm policy attention from rule-makers will decline as well. This assumption – despite important work to the contrary in institutional economics - is often voiced in federated governing units, especially the U.S., where constituents are locally organized and the commitment of rule-makers to nationwide policy is limited. While significant theoretical literature challenges that majoritarian view from the perspective of interest-group theory, this is the first empirical test and explanation of the behavior of rule-makers. The findings of this analysis indicate that classic majoritarian expectations are not met in the U.S. Congress. Instead, unexpectedly large numbers of legislators seek favorable policy action for farmers as distinct minorities within their districts. However, these same legislators balance their attention to farmers by also taking policy action in agriculture on behalf of other types of contituents. Legislators explain these actions as the result of their own electoral needs to satisfy vocal minorities from their political districts plus the ease with which they can marginally adjust a large base of U.S. farm programs. Thus, a kind of neo-majoritarianism emerges. These results are especially important given the growing attention to federated governance in the European Union, East Europe, in North America through free trade agreements, and with the GATT. They indicate that farmers will continue, despite shrinking numbers, to be influential in those governing structures that have historically strong farm programs and the capacity to diversify from that policy base.

With the emergence of “new Protectionism” and the resurrection of international political economy as a legitimate field of international relations, international trade and trade relations have, once again, become the focal points of political science inquiries. Given its varied intellectual attractions, the central theme of international trade remains constant: What are the causes of trade relations? Specifically, what factors determine a flow of commodities from country A to country B? There are basically two major types of answers to this question.

The study of policy networks usually focuses on the most routine political interactions, rather than on the proliferation of new activists and issues. In studying Congress, that approach directs attention to committee and subcomittee influence. This analysis takes an alternate approach, one more compatible with increasing entrepreneurship and declining specialization in the postreform Congress. It examines individual members from throughout the Congress as issue initiators. In particular, the focus is on (1) expansive member involvement, (2) the inclination of members to react to and process primarily constituent demands, and (3) the importance of state congressional delegations in advising members on issue selection. The conclusions, based on an extensive survey of members and staff from 113 individual offices, suggest that a significant transformation in the dynamics and power relationships within both Congress and domain politics is taking place. In particular, this research challenges the view that exclusionary and specialized policy networks dominate decision making within a well-defined policy domain.

In a previous paper, Berkowitz (1983) applied expected utility theory to obtain necessary but not sufficient conditions for decisions by International Treaty Organization (ITO) members to ‘confirm’ their membership or ‘defect’. Unfortunately, in his test of the theory, Berkowitz included only nations which took positive action to confirm or defect. Non-realigners (nations choosing neither to confirm nor to defect) were not included. We show that the inclusion of such non-realigners is essential even for a test of necessary but not sufficient conditions. We then replicate Berkowitz's analysis, including a sample of decisions by ITO members not to realign. The results significantly modify Berkowitz's original findings by allowing us to distinguish the significances of the individual variables (which Berkowitz was unable to do). We find that changes in the potential realigner's utility for its current allies' issue positions is the single most important contributor to the decision to realign. We also find that power considerations appear to be insignificant as regards this decision.