Regionalism in South Korea: Why do people’s emotions become political?

Wednesday November 20, 2024, 18:00 c.t ., Wilhelmstraße 133, R. 30

Kyungmee Park is a professor in the Department of Political Science and Diplomacy at Jeonbuk National University, Republic of Korea Korea She studied in Ewha Womans University and her PhD dissertation is “Continuities and Changes of Party Organizations in Korea Comparison of Organizational Changes of the Democratic Justice Party and the Party for Peace and Democracy” Her research interests are party politics, legislative politics, electoral politics, and Korean politics Her current main interest is how political institutions make effects on the people and politicians.

„All people live with their own emotions as well as way of thinking, habits and preferences Emotions affect people’s behavior We have seen that emotions make people the happier, while making them more difficult and sad In addition, group emotions can sometimes lead to situations of extreme conflict So why do people’s emotions become political? Korean politics is regionally divided despite social and cultural homogeneity with shared historical memories Various elections are fiercely contested with support for and against the two regional parties There are two arguments as to why Korean regionalism emerged the gap in regional development and political mobilization The case of Korean regionalism implies that the political mobilization of people’s emotions blinds people’s eyes.

Transforming Rural Places through Digitalization? Observations from Chile and South Korea

Wednesday November 6th 2024, 18:00 c.t., Wilhelmstraße 133 , Room 30

Lee Jae-Young is an architect and researcher based in Berlin. Since 2022 she is part of the CRC 1265 "Re-Figuration of Spaces" at the Technical University of Berlin and the Leibniz-Institute for Research on Society and Space in Erkner. In her dissertation, she explores territorial dynamics and grassroots practices amid the commodification and urbanization of contested rural places. Her research is informed by her work as an architect with Gyaw Gyaw since 2016 at the rural border between Thailand and Myanmar.

Since the global proliferation of digital networks, platform tourism and e-commerce have been closely associated with rural poverty alleviation, development and de-peripheralization. Concurrently, rural gentrification and spatial injustices increasingly manifest in the socio-political polarization of rural areas that can be observed on a global scale. To examine this critical juncture from the perspective of rural residents, this lecture presents empirical observations based on two field studies conducted in mountainous rural areas in Chile and South Korea.  The primary concern of this research is to explore the negotiation processes and spatial transformations that emerge as rural residents engage in platform tourism and e-commerce. The lecture first starts with conceptualizations of rurality and peripherality. This is followed by encounters of socio-spatial continuities and ruptures associated with the proliferation of platform economies and the role of more-than-human agencies that shape spatial trajectories. To conclude, first reflections on the spatial implications of digital platform economies are presented alongside empirical material. With its scope, the research thus links to the most recent ‘peripheral turn’ in global urban studies, which interrogates different experiences and modes of urbanization as seen from theoretical and geographical margins.

The Challenging Situation Facing Korean Politics Today 

현재 한국 정치가 직면한 도전적 상황

Wednesday October 30th 2024, 18:00 c.t., Wilhelmstraße 133 , Room 30

Lee Tahney was a member of the Korean National Assembly (Democratic Party, 2020-2024) and is currently a visiting scholar at Duisburg-Essen University. Before joining politics, he served in the Judiciary as a judge for 11 years and practiced as a public lawyer at the Human Rights Foundation, Gonggam. His main areas in legal domain relate to Constitutional law (Constitutional Court of Korea, delegated researcher, 2018) and criminal procedures (Harvard, LLM, 2015). He was elected three times as one of ‘the judges of the year’ by the Korean Bar Association, and became a strong public figure when he submitted a resignation letter briefly after being appointed as the Deputy Director-General of the National Court Administration of the Supreme Court of Korea, refusing to cooperate with the judicial scandal called 'the Judiciary Blacklist File' during the former president Park Geun-Hye era (2013-2017). He announced he would not run in 2024 general election in order to concentrate on the political reformation campaign to challenge the regressive step to abolish proportional representation amendment on the election law carried out in 2019. This evoked much public attention and controversy, which culminated in putting a stop to the two major political parties’ regressive trial.

This lecture draws on Mr. Lee Tahney's diverse experiences as a MP to examine the challenging situations currently facing Korean politics and to share future prospects. Korea's democratization in 1987 marked a transition from an authoritarian regime, leading to significant achievements in consolidating democracy and progress in various areas of society. However, recent years have seen a buildup of deep discontent. According to an OECD report released last summer, public trust in the Korean National Assembly is around 20%, trust in political parties even lower, both at the lowest level among the 30 countries surveyed. The figures are considered anomalous given Korea's international competitiveness, and the phrase "politics of despair" has become prevalent in media and popular culture. Both experts and the public report a stark lack of political efficacy. Mr. Lee attributes this to what he terms "reflexive benefit politics" which is rooted in two rather recent developments: changes in political structure and the populist shift of major parties.

Establishing a start-up business in Korea as a foreign entrepreneur

Wednesday October 16th 2024, 18:00 c.t., Wilhelmstraße 133 , Room 30

Dr. Stephan Gerschewski is Associate Professor in Strategy & Enterprise at Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University, UK. Prior to joining Heriot-Watt University, Dr Gerschewski worked as a Senior Lecturer in International Marketing at Kent Business School, University of Kent, UK, and as a Lecturer in International Business & Strategy at Henley Business School, University of Reading, UK. Dr. Gerschewski is currently a Visiting Professor in International Business at University of Tübingen and University of Göttingen. Dr. Gerschewski’s main research areas relate to International Entrepreneurship, export strategy and performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and cross-cultural management. Dr. Gerschewski has published several articles in major academic journals (ABS 4, SJR - Q1, ABDC - A). Dr. Gerschewski is Associate Editor of European Management Journal (EMJ), and he serves on the Editorial Review Board of Multinational Business Review (MBR) and Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development (JSBED).

Korea has experienced ‘miracle’ economic growth rates in the recent past. Korea has not only developed major global players, such as Samsung and Hyundai, but has also become an increasingly attractive market for foreign companies and foreign entrepreneurs. The rapid economic growth of South Korea after World War 2 has been commonly termed as the ‘Miracle on the Hangang River’. This lecture will introduce the economic, political, and cultural environment that influences doing business in Korea. In particular, the lecture will focus on how foreign entrepreneurs and companies can establish a successful start-up business in Korea. The contents will include market entry, marketing, and human resource management.