Author Archive

World Values Survey Data and the Resilience of Materialist Values in South Korea

By | May 02, 2014

Most of the advanced industrial nations of the world have undergone a post-material transition, as the latest wave of World Values Survey (WVS) data shows. However, materialist values have greater resistance in South Korea. Why? Steven Denney sifts through the data and the theory that underpins it.

Bullet Trains and Wood-Burning Trucks

By and | May 01, 2014

In an effort to cut down travel time and spur economic growth, China is lacing high-speed rail throughout its northeastern provinces. Lessons abound for North Korea, as this essay from eastern Jilin indicates.

Nationalism in an Era of Strength and Prosperity: Politics and People in Post-Developmental South Korea

By | January 16, 2014

In the fall of last year, South Korea sent tanks, soldiers, and missiles down the streets of central Seoul in the largest military parade seen there in almost a decade. Steven Denney and Karl Friedhoff, writing for CSIS’s PacNet Newsletter, looked for broader societal changes beyond the pomp of the parade.

History and Revolution: An Interview with Dr. Suzy Kim

By | December 16, 2013

Steven Denney speaks with Dr. Suzy Kim (Rutgers University) about the DPRK’s tangled origins, the impact of Bruce Cumings, and her new book: Everyday Life in the North Korean Revolution, 1945-1950.

Sino-NK 2013 Rewind: Saegyehwa Politics and South Korea in the Age of Globalization

By | December 13, 2013

Steven Denney investigates politics and the political in the ROK during 2013, a new Park era, but the continuation of Saegyehwa/Globalization politics.