Politics of Globalization: Comparing Japanese and Korean Experiences

By exploring the diverse globalization and domestic economic adjustments of Korea and Japan, this paper criticizes the existing theories including neoliberalism, leftist global capitalism, and institutionalism. Unlike the denationalization view of neoliberalism and leftist global capitalism, this paper argues that the process of national core firms’ globalization does not necessarily lead to denationalization. Based on the Korean and Japanese globalization, from the comparative perspective, this paper holds that the patterns of globalization and domestic adjustments are very different. Furthermore, unlike institutionalism, this paper emphasizes that diverse patterns of globalization are not predetermined by national institutions; instead, they are newly reconstituted by key actors, which consider their relative positions in the global competition and search for new competitive advantages as solutions.