<p>This dissertation explores how the authoritarian regime of Park Chung-Hee (1963-1979) mobilized women as individuals and groups in transforming the agricultural state to an industrialized and modernized one. Although much has been written about the significance of Korean male elites in economic and democratic achievements, we can only find limited scholarship on women’s mobilization by the state as well as the roles of ordinary women and female elites in the national development process. My work is different in that I highlight the Park Chung-Hee regime’s colonial legacy and its broader application to women’s social and public mobilization for the national economic growth. I argue that Korean women were mobilized by the Park Chung-Hee regime as individuals and groups considered a great source to consolidate diplomatic relations with allies as well as “voluntary” social workers and as cheaper laborers.</p>

This is a comparative study between Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan that explores the differences of each society's values and politics to understand their current gay rights record. In light of Taiwan's legalization of marriage equality in 2019, this study compares all three countries to find the differences that possibly caused this progression of gay rights in Taiwan, but not in South Korea and Japan, which are notorious for their apathy toward the LGBTQ community.

This paper compares and analyzes the decoupling processes of carbon emissions to economic growth in the European Union and South and East Asian middle income countries. This is done through econometric methods, testing for a relationship between CO2 and GDP. The study is conducted by first testing for the hypothesis that there is a significant difference of the turning points between the EU and the Asian region, and thereafter if there is a significant difference in the decoupling processes. The findings show that the Asian middle income countries have a lower turning point than the EU. It is also found that the EU experienced absolute decoupling in 2014, whereas the Asian countries only experienced weak relative decoupling. The study is based on four theories; The Environmental Kuznets curve, Tapio’s Decoupling model Theory, Rostow’s Stage of Growth Theory and the Ecological Modernization Theory. The findings, together with the theories, show that improved technology, together with implementations of international policies, can have positive effects on environmental changes.

CHARLES UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES Institute of Political Studies Department of Political Science Master's Thesis No Safe Harbour: Is Economic Reliance on the People's Republic of China Sinking Regional Foreign Policy Independence in the East-Asia Pacific? ABSTRACT This paper has been commissioned to explore the relationship between political and economic dependency of East-Asia Pacific nations, with a GDP (nominal) of over US$100 billion, on China. Ten case nations were selected for analysis; Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam. Two separate metrics were created; the "Economic Entanglement Index (EEI)" and "Political Dependency Index (PDI)", containing a total of six and five individual indicators each, respectively. Analysing this data, I was able to quantify the levels of political and economic dependency each of these ten case nations shared with China. Singapore was ranked as the most dependent nation in both categories while Japan ranked the least dependent for the EEI and tied with Australia for least dependent in the PDI. Both indexes were also combined to create an overall "Sino-dependency score". My analysis indicated a moderate correlation between the levels of economic and political dependency on China. In...

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This thesis intends to explore the peacebuilding process in East Asia. It mainly examines the politics, cultures, and economies of China, Japan, and South Korea, along with the on-going issues between South Korea and North Korea. To be able to establish a stable and prosperous society in East Asia, these three countries play a major role, and they can create greater cooperation within the region and on the international level. Peacebuilding process highly depends on politic, culture, and economy of these three countries. Confidence Building Measures (CBM) and Peaceful Settlement of Disputes (PSD) are the excellent strategies for achieving peace in the region after studying each country carefully. Economic activities and good trade relations are essential to the peace development in East Asia.

This thesis paper sets out to explore nationalism and national identity in East Asia, with a specific lens on China, Hong Kong and Taiwan as the comparative case-study. By examining the theoretical arguments and concepts of nationalism and national identity, the research questions to analyze in this paper are: (1) If individual actors and societies can define and construct their own national identity, simultaneously combat and resist the imposition of a nationalism ideology? and (2) If the rise of nationalism must result in a corresponding rise in the perception of one’s national identity in society? Despite the rising Chinese nationalism, both cases demonstrate a high peripheral and civic identity as Hongkongers and Taiwanese. Using both quantitative and qualitative content analysis, three hypotheses are process-traced and assessed to elucidate the phenomenon. The findings suggest that there exists a discrepancy of people’s perception of their national identity; individual actors can react differently and combat the imposition of a nationalism ideology, and the expansion of nationalism would not necessarily cause a parallel correlation in people’s national identity.

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