South Korea's Grand Strategy: Making Its Own Destiny

by Ramon Pacheco Pardo

Overview

Since the end of the Cold War, South Korea has taken on a greater role in global affairs. Ramon Pacheco Pardo provides a groundbreaking analysis of South Korea’s foreign policy from its transition to democracy in the late 1980s through the present day, arguing that the country’s approach to the world constitutes a grand strategy.

This book examines the key factors and goals that shape South Korea’s long-term strategy, with analysis that brings together its diplomatic, military, economic, and soft-power components. Pacheco Pardo shows that South Korea’s fundamental aim has been to move beyond its past as a “shrimp among whales” and instead attain autonomy and freedom of action. He explores how South Korean leaders across parties and governments have pursued security, prosperity, and status. Pacheco Pardo tracks South Korea’s core relationships with North Korea, the United States, and China, and he details the country’s objectives and policies across East Asia, the Asia-Pacific region, and the rest of the world.

Drawing on in-depth interviews with past and present policy makers, this book presents an analytical account of how South Korean strategy is made and practiced. It expertly lays out South Korea’s grand strategy and, more broadly, makes a compelling case that middle powers like South Korea can implement grand strategies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231554930
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	10/10/2023
Series:	Contemporary Asia in the World
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Ramon Pacheco Pardo is professor of international relations at King’s College London and the KF-VUB Korea Chair at the Brussels School of Governance at Vrije Universiteit Brussel. His books include Shrimp to Whale: South Korea from the Forgotten War to K-Pop (2022) and, with Victor Cha, Korea: A New History of South and North (2023).

Ramon Pacheco Pardo is Professor of International Relations at King’s College London and the KF-VUB Korea Chair at the Brussels School of Governance. His books include Korea: A New History of South and North (with Victor D. Cha) and Shrimp to Whale: South Korea from the Forgotten War to K-Pop.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
1. The Grand Strategy of Middle Powers
2. Historical Background, 1948–1987
3. South Korea’s Grand Strategy: Factors, Ends, and Means
4. Triangular Core: Inter-Korean Relations, the U.S. Alliance, and China’s Rise
5. East Asia: Regionalism and Regionalization
6. Greater Eurasia and the Indian Ocean
7. The Rest of the World and Global Governance
Conclusion: The Past, Present, and Future of South Korea’s Grand Strategy
Notes
Index

Editorial Reviews

In this remarkable book, South Korea’s Grand Strategy: Making Its Own Destiny, Ramon Pacheco Pardo pushes the boundaries of the study of grand strategy by applying it to middle powers... a terrific contribution to the literature on grand strategy, middle powers, and South Korea in particular that will serve as a reference for years to come.

Asia Policy - Yves Tiberghien

South Korea’s Grand Strategy makes some important points, and while more suited to academics and policymakers than general readers, it provides a broad context to the thinking of its leaders as well as a useful historical overview.

Asian Review of Books

This is an incredibly useful book that illuminates how South Korea thinks about its place in the world, what it aspires to achieve, and how it pursues its objectives. With its lucid and comprehensive presentation of South Korea as an international actor, the book is an excellent text for students and researchers alike.

Ji-Young Lee

With South Korea’s Grand Strategy: Making Its Own Destiny, Ramon Pacheco Pardo has written a pathbreaking, scholarly book that explains comprehensively, systematically, and persuasively why South Korea has swiftly emerged as a middle power shaping its own future

Asia Policy - Lam Peng E

Ramon Pacheco Pardo’s mastery of South Korea and South Korea’s grand strategy are well presented in this book. A must for all who want to see how South Korea has achieved autonomy and freedom of action in approaching the world.

Sung-han Kim

Ramon Pacheco Pardo’s new book South Korea’s Grand Strategy is an outstanding assessment of the country’s remarkable journey to become an influential and respected middle power. This book is required reading for those who study South Korean foreign policy as well as scholars of grand strategy.

Terence Roehrig

In South Korea’s Grand Strategy, Ramon Pacheco Pardo offers a theoretically compelling and empirically rich account explaining how a small, initially inward-looking country developed a formidable grand strategy. Scholars and practitioners interested in grand strategy, foreign policy, East Asian affairs and South Korean politics will benefit greatly from this book.

Andrew Yeo

An excellent contribution to the literature on South Korean strategic thinking.

Foreign Policy