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Hater Depot
Joined: 29 Mar 2005
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 Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 8:52 pm Post subject: The Persistence of North Korea |
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http://www.policyreview.org/oct04/eberstadt_print.html
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Can the Democratic People��s Republic of Korea (dprk, aka North Korea) survive — as a distinct regime, an autonomous state, a specific political-economic system, and a sovereign country?
Can it continue to function in the manner in which it has been performing since the end of 1991 — that is to say, since the final collapse of the Soviet empire? Or is it doomed to join the Warsaw Pact��s failed communist experiments in the dustbin of history? Or might it, instead, adapt and evolve — ��surviving�� in the sense of maintaining its political authority and power to rule but transforming its defining functional characteristics and systemic identity?
Back in 1994, I would not have expected to be writing an article on this particular theme a decade hence. My own work on the North Korean economy has generally been associated with what others have termed the ��collapsist�� school of thought, and not unfairly. As far back as June 1990, I published an op-ed essay titled ��The Coming Collapse Of North Korea��; since then, my analyses have recurrently questioned the viability of the dprk economy and system.1
It is perhaps especially fitting, then, that having imagined the odds of the dprk��s post-Soviet survival to be very low, I should be charged with explaining just how the North Korean system has managed to survive these past 13 or 14 years — and to speculate about the possibility of sustainable pathways that might permit regime, state, and system to endure that far, or further, into the future. |
It's a long read but very much worth it if you are interested in North Korean issues. |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 4:12 am Post subject: |
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| Truly, this man has answered the question we've all had on our minds, what does Gallipolli have to do with North Korea? |
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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 9:14 am Post subject: |
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| Kuros wrote: |
| Truly, this man has answered the question we've all had on our minds, what does Gallipolli have to do with North Korea? |
Thank god, that question has been haunting me for some time now.  |
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rapier
Joined: 16 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2005 7:16 am Post subject: |
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| North korea is a parasitic state that ensures its survival by threatening its benevolent host. But how bloody would a quick surgical removal actually be? |
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Bee Positive
Joined: 27 Oct 2005
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| Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2005 8:29 am Post subject: |
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Think of North Korea as a semi-autonomous jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China, and you'll quickly grasp why it isn't likely to fail anytime soon.
Likewise, the South is a semi-autonomous jurisdiction of the United States, something a bit like Puerto Rico.
Don't kid yourself and imagine that either half of this peninsula is self-directing. It ain't. Laws governing traffic, real estate, pet ownership and so on are left to the lords of Seoul and Pyeonyang respectively because the big boys just can't be bothered, wouldn't want to be, and have a stake in maintaining the appearance of sovereignty.
Still, North Korea grinds to a halt TOMORROW if Beijing cuts off the oil. South Korea may enjoy a somewhat longer leash, but if Roh Mu Hyun ever forgets that he's merely governing an American outpost, believe it, he'll be put right in a heartbeat.
BEE POSITIVE |
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Privateer
Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Location: Easy Street.
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| Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2005 11:22 am Post subject: |
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Thanks for the link to a great article Hater Depot. A lot of interesting stuff in there.
I must admit I didn't realise just how great the scale of US aid to South Korea over the decades has been. It dwarfs the amount given to North Korea - even though it's pretty ironic how US aid a couple of years ago, more than that given even by South Korea, kept the North going. |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2005 9:23 pm Post subject: |
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| Think of North Korea as a semi-autonomous jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China, and you'll quickly grasp why it isn't likely to fail anytime soon. |
Check the article, you'll see that aid from the United States to North Korea in this century has been massive as well. Indeed, there's a good deal to suspect that America has been reinforcing the regime's philosophy of giving priority to military development thereby allowing it more extortive gains. |
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