Globalisation and Labour Struggle in Asia

"Korean development has not occurred in a vacuum, but is a specific series of events that provide insight into the way that international struggles for hegemony affect local environments. Ongoing struggle between workers and the state in the former 'hermit kingdom' show that despite appeals to nationalism and human nature seen in training and education programmes to assist economic and social 'progress', Phoebe Moore argues that Korea has not become a 'hegemonic' nation, even since democratization in the early 1990s, but has known ongoing struggle in the face of pressures to develop and to catch up with advanced nations. The neo-Gramscian school theorises that world history reveals periods of hegemonic stability at some points such as during the period of 'Pax Americana', but this account of Korean development demonstrates that this speculation cannot be fully justified. Through making creative links between forms of state, education programmes, and labour relations and the global climate throughout a series of 'historical blocs', the book covers the story of South Korean development with all fairy tales removed. From Japanese colonisation to contemporary neoliberal social and econ