| Publication |
2009.
|
| Summary/Abstract |
Foreign policy behavior is a function of combined elements such as strategic calculations, institutionalized mechanisms, interactive constructed identity, and transaction/opportunity costs. The top leaders' connectivity serves as an intervening variable in the process. The personal connection, of course, cannot show the whole picture of behind-the-curtain dynamics, and yet it still is a piece of the puzzle in explaining "why it happened the way it happened." This article, an inductive analysis of narratives, explains why the current nuclear impasse emerged at the end of the Clinton administration and how the George W. Bush administration chose to dismiss the Kim Jong Il regime as a legitimate counterpart by focusing on cultural elements of the top leaders' ethos and worldviews.
|