North Korea under Kim Chong-il
Subtitle: power, politics, and prospects for change
By: Ken E. Gause
Series: Praeger security international
Publisher: Praeger
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Santa Barbara, Calif
Language: eng
Number of pages: 241
ISBN-13: 9780313381751; 9780313381768
Subjects: Politics and government
Description: One of the most vexing foreign policy problems facing the international community today is the case of North Korea. Since the late 1980s, successive leaders of the five Northeast Asian powers have confronted the challenge to little effect. Despite a variety of foreign policy strategies ranging from threats of military force to engagement to benign neglect to engagement within the context of the Six Party Talks, neither the United States, nor South Korea, nor China has succeeded in removing the problems North Korea poses for the international community. As the United States and its allies have tried to deal with these challenges, they have been met with a country whose security and foreign policies appear erratic and unpredictable. North Korea's lack of susceptibility to diplomatic pressure and willingness to engage in provocative actions as part of a brinksmanship strategy makes it a seemingly intractable problem. Policy makers face many questions with no apparent answers. This book is designed to provide the reader with an understanding of the political process and leadership environment in North Korea.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Kim Chong-il as leader; title: Establishing the Kim Chong-il system; title: Crisis management: experimenting with reform; title: Kim family politics; title: Rollback of reforms; title: New faces emerge as North Korea takes a different tack at reform; title: Passing the torch to a third generation; title: Third hereditary succession; title: Challenges for the future.