Korea impacted by cold war, changes of the country 1991-2014 - Assignment Example

Section/# Korean Dynamics in the Post Cold War Era Government In terms of governance, the change that wasexperienced within Korea actually took place as a prelude to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. However, nevertheless, with the Gorbachev thaw and a recognition of the fact that the threats of past years were not as dire as they had once been, democracy advocates in South Korea began to demand a more democratic and transparent government (Dal Yong, 2014). As a result of this, uprisings in 1987 paved the way to dispose of military leadership that had ruled the nation with an iron grip ever since the conclusion of the Korean War.2. Economy In terms of economics, the greatest change was that South Korea came to integrate with the global economy to a more full and complete degree.

As a result of the continual threat of invasion and the protective shield the United States provided, South Korean markets were almost entirely restricted to US export. Although this was not based on extant treaty obligations, it is clear and apparent that the United States sought to defray the massive cost of having a military presence in South Korea by essentially creating a captive market for American products and a captive market for most exports (Ginsberg, 2014). 3. Societal ChangesSocietal changes that have taken place within Korea are mainly contingent on the societal changes that globalization has provided over the past several decades.

Essentially, recognition of the fact that Korean culture is unique but not the only means by which social norms should be constructed has come to play a primary role with respect to the way in which individuals live their lives, order their families, and seek to deport themselves (Dong-Hoon & Jungmin, 2014). Changes to expectations of morality and other issues pertaining to the way in which the average Korean lives their lives have also fundamentally changed as a result of the fact that after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War there has been a much lower focus on the need for upholding existing tradition.

Whereas this is not to say that tradition does not play a valuable role in the life of the average Korean, its prominence now as compared to 20-30 years ago is most demonstrably diminished. 4. Gender RolesOf all of the changes that have been effected, the area of gender roles are likely the most recognizable shift that has taken place since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. With the impact of globalization and western norms that flooded South Korea as a result of this geo-political shift and the increased level of interaction that South Korea had with the rest of the world, traditional expectations for what a woman should espouse and what her place in society should be were shifted from what they had been for many decades previously (Kim, 2009).

Whereas it might have been expected for a wife to stay home and be a homemaker during the Cold War era, it is now almost expected and demanded that women will take an active part in the workforce and attain higher levels of education; in an almost identical way to their male counterparts. ReferencesDal Yong, J. (2014). The Power of the Nation-state amid Net-liberal Reform: Shifting Cultural Politics in the New Korean Wave. Pacific Affairs, 87(1), 71-92. doi:10.5509/201487171Dong-Hoon, S., & Jungmin, S. (2014). Dynamics of Ethnic Nationalism and Hierarchical Nationhood: Korean Nation and Its Othernesss since the Late 1980s.

 Korea Journal, 54(2), 5-33.Grinberg, N. (2014). From Miracle to Crisis and Back: The Political Economy of South Korean Long-Term Development. Journal Of Contemporary Asia, 44(4), 711-734. doi:10.1080/00472336.2014.883421Kim, H. (2009). Should feminism transcend nationalism? A defense of feminist nationalism in South Korea. Womens Studies International Forum, 32(2), 108-119. doi:10.1016/j.wsif.2009.03.002