The main purpose of this study is to understand the historicity of the dynamics of socio-economic changes and the characteristics of social and political mobilization in the case of progressive activists' ongoing search for new strategies of progressive urban community politics in Seoul, South Korea, after the historical conjuncture of democratization and neo-liberal globalization. This study is conducted through participant observation, interviews, and post-fieldwork historical research. By adopting the concept of "multiple-layeredness" as the underlying perspective, this study aims to capture the complexity and hybridity of past and recent socio-economic transformations. The progressive community activists are products of historically specific circumstances of state repression and radical social movements in the 1980s and the 1990s, and the influences of their past activist experiences are visible in their community activism. Historically, the state has been implicated in popular mobilizations for the national goals of economic development and democratization, which resulted in two-party domination in local politics. Under this unfavorable political condition, the community activists seek to acquire their places in public institutions through local elections and to organize grassroots resistance against local "growth machines" by mobilizing various social ties.

M.B.A. / This study aims to assess the economic growth and development approaches that have been used by South Africa and South Korea. With this in mind, a brief overview at the socio-economic history of each country is given and the various plans implemented by both countries are considered. In chapter one, a brief comparison between the histories of the two countries was made. The intent of this comparison is to highlight the disparities between two countries who were once economically on par. In chapter two, the different approaches to economic growth and development is discussed. The role of human capital and its effects on a countries economy is highlighted. The question of which approach to use is also considered. Should it be purely one approach or can it be a combination from the various models? Chapters three and four deals with the various programmes that have been implemented by South Korea and South Africa, respectively. The approach used and also the outcomes (where possible) are evaluated. In the South Korean situation the difficulties that have shaped the nation and the lingering effects that are still prevalent in its policies (budget allowance for defence and education) can be discerned. In the South African situation it is apparent that the government is also trying to deal with the lingering effects of apartheid. The true results of the programmes (RDP, GEAR) implemented thus far is not clear. The aim was to explore, by means of a literature review, what the economic growth experiences are of both South Africa and South Korea for their respective time periods under review, namely, from 1995 to 2003/4 and 1960 to 2003. the objectives of the study were, to explore the social and economic history of South Korea and of South Africa in order to determine, by means of comparison, policies and or strategies that South Africa might be able to use (if any) in order to establish and maintain economic growth.

This dissertation interrogates how diverse actors ascribe semantic, affective, and political meanings to instrumental music under changing historical circumstances and in different performance contexts. In what I call an “ethnographic reception study,” I employ historical and ethnographic methods to assess the ways in which the popular samulnori percussion genre from South Korea has been imbued with associations as divergent as a sonic symbol of Korea to narratives of resistance against the state. Through five chapters, I track some of the contested and multiple meanings as they interact, both in historical moments in South Korea and vis-à-vis transnational circulations that led to the genre’s transmission outside Korea. As a genre of percussion music that was first created in South Korea in 1978, samulnori has had a complex reception during three dramatic decades in modern Korean history—leading to life-changing encounters from its fans while also eliciting scorn from its detractors. As a dynamic musical genre that is now notated and largely nonverbal, samulnori has served as a user-friendly sonic canvas upon which identities and affinities have been easily grafted by non-Korean fans, leading to the development of amateur samulnori ensembles and musical communities around the world. By considering the ways in which the samulnori genre has been evaluated, interpreted, and practiced by different actors, I show how the genre’s complex reception exhibits a relational and imbricated set of meanings over time. Last, by considering the cultural politics of samulnori from diachronic and synchronic perspectives, I offer a working methodology for contemporary studies of music reception. / Music

The case concerning demolition of the Japanese General Government Building in Seoul, South Korea, from the Japanese colonialism has been discussed since Korea’s liberation in 1945, but the building had been used for many functions during that time frame. This building was finally demolished during the period 1995 to 1997, despite the national and international protestations. This research analysed newspaper articles to study the conflict between pro-demolition and pro-conservation groups in the newspapers to see how, and why the conflict proceeded. Korean newspaper archives were used to search four newspapers from the time period of 1991 to 1998, using the keyword ‘Japanese General Government Building’. The collected data was analysed with qualitative methodology to understand the conflicts in the newspapers. This analysis revealed three reasons put forward by the pro-conservation, Memorial and Educational Value, Art and Use Value, and Economic Value and, two reasons of pro-demolition, the Memorial Obstacle and Socio-cultural obstacle. Most reasons for both groups were classic arguments relating to other difficult heritage buildings, however, two different reasons are pertinent to this particular case: First, the government did not present any practical reasons to destroy the building. Second, Feng-Shui was presented as one of the main reasons for destroying the building. This socio-cultural element has been a fundamental and strong belief system in Korea.

The aim of this diploma thesis is to analyse current public diplomacy and the specifics of public diplomacy in small and medium-sized states. As an example of such a state it studies South Korean public diplomacy and nation branding policies. The first part of the thesis focuses on theoretical frame of public diplomacy, its goals, actors, instruments, specifics of small and medium-sized states, difference between public diplomacy and nation branding and evaluation possibilites. The second part analyses the public diplomacy in South Korea, one of the representatives of small and medium-sized states. The third part focuses on nation branding, an important part of South Korean foreign policy.

This thesis examines the relationship between Korean film and modernity by conducting a survey of the representation of cars, trains, and the city throughout (South) Korean film history. There have been several remarkable changes in these representations over time: the train, first the awe-inspiring symbol of Korean technological advancement in the 1890s, becomes the brutal symbol of Japanese oppression just a few decades later. The city in Korean film is politically and socially charged for most of the 20th century, a place where innocent people are morally corrupted or physically assaulted. But by the 21st century, trains and cars are now toys for action characters to manipulate, and the city is now a neutral backdrop for pure entertainment in blockbuster films such as Train to Busan (Yeon Sang-ho, 2016), Ashfall (Lee Hae-jun and Kim Byung-seo, 2019), and Peninsula (Yeon Sang-ho, 2020). There are several reasons for this, one of which I propose as the inherently procapitalist and pro-modernity nature of the blockbuster film.

This thesis reviews relationships between economic growth and water pollution in South Korea using the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). Both national perspective (pooled data) and regional perspective (each river) are used to reveal the EKC theory. Given that the small sample covers four rivers and the period of 1985-2009, Fixed-effects model with a robust standard error is chosen for removing econometric problems. Empirical results demonstrate that the EKC theory explains water quality change in South Korea, depending on the types of water pollutants and their generated regional characteristics. The Han River does not show inverted-U shapes for BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand) and COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand), but the Geum River (BOD), the Yeongsan River (BOD and COD), and the Nackdong River (COD) show inverted-U shapes. At the national perspective, BOD and COD might show inverted-U shapes; therefore, the EKC relationship cannot always be generalized between economic growth and environmental pollution.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate if FDI can be used as a proverbial ‘another arrow in the quiver’ for boosting economic growth. The research topic at hand asks if a positive regression can be observed between the employment of external market forces, specifically FDI, and economic growth. The study covers Singapore and South Korea during the period 1972-2019. The theoretical framework includes Solow’s exogenous growth theory, Romer’s endogenous growth theory and the OLI-theory. These theories provide the mechanism and context which explains how FDI can affect an economy, these include capital accumulation and non-rivalising ideas. The data has been tested to see if it complies with the classical assumption of linear regression. The analysis is based on multiple variable regression where a new independent variable is presented for each new regression that is made. The results show that there is no statistically significant coefficient in the regression model between FDI-inflow and economic growth in both countries during the specified time period. This result occurred because the FDI variable for the multiple regressions for each country usually does not show a statistically significant result. This means that the coefficient values presented in the regressions cannot be interpreted as facts because they do not reach the confidence interval below 5% to be seen as trustworthy results.

Asian cultures have been heavily influenced by Western culture due to globalization. Video on demand (VOD) services provide a means to quantify the westernization of Asian cultures, especially those within South Korea. As the majority of current binge-watching studies have been conducted utilizing U.S. samples, there is a need for comparative research between the two cultures, to see if westernization can be quantified via these means. The current study examined the relative levels of five Korean binge-watching motivations (enjoyment, efficiency, recommendation of others, perceived control, fandom) and eight American binge-watching motivations (escape, information, engagement, relaxation, passing time, hedonism, social, habit) sourced from prior research, among a Korean (n =113) and American (n = 193) sample. Results indicated that both Americans and Koreans scored highly on enjoyment and engagement. Americans scored higher on nine out of the 13 motivations: efficiency, recommendation of others, fandom, escape, relaxation, passing time, hedonism, social, and habit. Koreans scored higher on two out of the 13 motivations: information and perceived control. Also, Americans binge-watched more frequently than Koreans. In conclusion, the outcome of the study suggests where society is going with VOD services and binge-watching as a deeper understanding of binge-watching in a cross-cultural setting. Future researchers should consider a qualitative study to overcome the limited range of TV viewing motivational scales and a random sampling, assuring diversity in sample groups.

Asian cultures have been heavily influenced by Western culture due to globalization. Video on demand (VOD) services provide a means to quantify the westernization of Asian cultures, especially those within South Korea. As the majority of current binge-watching studies have been conducted utilizing U.S. samples, there is a need for comparative research between the two cultures, to see if westernization can be quantified via these means. The current study examined the relative levels of five Korean binge-watching motivations (enjoyment, efficiency, recommendation of others, perceived control, fandom) and eight American binge-watching motivations (escape, information, engagement, relaxation, passing time, hedonism, social, habit) sourced from prior research, among a Korean (n =113) and American (n = 193) sample. Results indicated that both Americans and Koreans scored highly on enjoyment and engagement. Americans scored higher on nine out of the 13 motivations: efficiency, recommendation of others, fandom, escape, relaxation, passing time, hedonism, social, and habit. Koreans scored higher on two out of the 13 motivations: information and perceived control. Also, Americans binge-watched more frequently than Koreans. In conclusion, the outcome of the study suggests where society is going with VOD services and binge-watching as a deeper understanding of binge-watching in a cross-cultural setting. Future researchers should consider a qualitative study to overcome the limited range of TV viewing motivational scales and a random sampling, assuring diversity in sample groups.