North Korea
Markets and Military Rule

This is a historically founded, empirical study of social and economic transformation wrought by 'marketisation from below' in North Korea.

Hazel Smith (Author)

9780521723442, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 6 April 2015

394 pages
22.8 x 15.2 x 2.3 cm, 0.57 kg

'North Korea is a no-nonsense book. The wealth of documents and statistics does much to buttress the analysis, and it is as good as any English-language book in providing an overview of contemporary North Korea. Smith's analysis of the pre-famine, Kim Ilsungist period is well grounded and clear sighted as she pays due attention to the historical, organizational, and ideological factors that molded the robust system.' John Lie, Cross-Currents

In this historically grounded, richly empirical study of social and economic transformation in North Korea, Hazel Smith evaluates the 'marketization from below' that followed the devastating famine of the early 1990s, estimated to be the cause of nearly one million fatalities. Smith shows how the end of the Cold War in Europe and the famine brought radical social change to all of North Korean society. This major new study analyses how marketization transformed the interests, expectations and values of the entire society, including Party members, the military, women and men, the young and the elderly. Smith shows how the daily life of North Koreans has become alienated from the daily pronouncements of the North Korean government. Challenging stereotypes of twenty-five million North Koreans as mere bystanders in history, Smith argues that North Koreans are 'neither victims nor villains' but active agents of their own destiny.

Introduction: North Korea: politics, economy and society
Part I. Jettisoning Caricatures: Understanding History: 1. Beyond the clichés
2. National identity
Part II. The Rise and Fall of Kim Il Sungism: 3. Colonial occupation and the rise of Kim Il Sung
4. War-fighting as state-building
5. 'Socialism in our own style'
6. Sisyphus as economic model
7. Social stratification in the workers' state
8. Famine and the end of Kim Il Sungism
Part III. Marketisation and Military Rule: 9. Marketisation from below
10. Military rule from above
11. The marketisation of well-being
12. The marketisation of the social structure
13. Going nuclear
14. Strategic paralysis
15. North Koreans as agents of change
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Politics & government [JP]