Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
acceptedVersion
Publication Date
12-2022
Abstract
This study aims to examine South Korean middle power diplomacy discourses using premodern Korea’s diplomatic thinking-cum-practice of sadae (serving the great) as a heuristic device. It is argued that current discourses of South Korea as a middle power resonate with sadae because they strive to secure the existing liberal international order led by the West and the United States. It also argues that it is both necessary and healthy for South Korean middle power diplomacy studies to denaturalize its self-evident faith in the existing liberal international order—a not universal but particular order among several possible others in history—with South Korea celebrating and appropriating liberal values. This would prepare South Korean middle power diplomacy research to tackle uncertainty, difference, and pluralism in global politics while producing more responsible and responsive scholarship in international relations.
Keywords
Middle power diplomacy, IR knowledge production, sadae (serving the great), South Korea, liberal international order
Discipline
Asian Studies | International Relations | Political Science
Research Areas
Political Science
Publication
Issues & Studies
Volume
58
Issue
4
First Page
1
Last Page
26
ISSN
1013-2511
Identifier
10.1142/S1013251122500060
Publisher
World Scientific
Citation
CHO, Young chul, & CALLAHAN, William A..(2022). Understanding South Korean middle power diplomacy discourses through the concept of Sadae (Serving the Great). Issues & Studies, 58(4), 1-26.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/4164
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1142/S1013251122500060
