ID | 163782 |
Title Proper | Is the Era of Korean Middle Power Diplomacy Over? A Realist Perspective |
Language | ENG |
Author | Green, Michael J |
Summary / Abstract (Note) | A decade ago, Korea seemed poised to establish new leadership on global and regional governance using “middle power diplomacy.” Korea hosted the G-20 leaders in Seoul in November 2010, the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF-4) in Busan in November 2011; and the Nuclear Security Summit with over 50 world leaders in attendance in March 2012. In 2013 Korea joined Mexico, Indonesia, Turkey and Australia on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to form the MIKTA caucus of like-minded middle powers. Yet experts generally agree that Korea’s middle power diplomacy has lost momentum in recent years. Follow-up on these earlier summits has been incomplete and more recent initiatives, such as President Park Geun-hye’s Northeast Asia Peace and Cooperation Initiative (NAPCI) and President Moon Jae-in’s New Northern and New Southern Diplomacies have failed to gain any traction. What went wrong? An assessment of these various initiatives suggests that Korean-style middle power diplomacy has suffered from three problems: capacity; geopolitics and domestic political divisions. As Asia becomes more contested, Korea will need to take a clearer stand in support of the neoliberal norms that have underpinned the post-war international order. Early middle power strategies based on convening and bridging will leave Seoul in a reactive and vulnerable position as geopolitical competition increases. |
`In' analytical Note | Korean Journal of Defence Analysis Vol. 31, No.1; Mar 2019: p. |
Journal Source | Korean Journal of Defence Analysis Vol: 31 No 1 |
Key Words | Korea ; Global Governance ; Middle Power ; Northeast Asia Security |