The Postdevelopmental State: Dilemmas of Economic Democratization in Contemporary South Korea
We are pleased to announce a new session in the regular open seminar series hosted by the Political Economy Team of Seoul National University’s Center for Contemporary Korean Studies. For this seminar, we are delighted to welcome Dr. Jamie Doucette,2025-07-18
The 11th Theory Atelier: “Habermas’s 2019 Study of Confucianism and Dialogue between Eastern and Western Civilizations”
<Overview> Although Confucianism is discussed in Habermas’s Also a History of Philosophy (2019) as one of the Axial traditions, its status as a world-view of “immanent transcendence” has not been sufficiently explicated. In order to do so, one needs not2025-07-16
The 10th Theory Atelier: “Moishe Postone: A Critical Theory That Critiques Critical Theory”
<Overview> This presentation examines the possibilities of contemporary critical theory through the work of Moishe Postone (1942–2018), the Jewish-Canadian critical theorist based in the United States. Against claims about the “end of critique” or the “end of critical theory” associated2025-05-26
Bipartisanship in a Unified Government: Politics of Taxation and Corporate Governance in Korea
Date and Time: Friday, May 16, 2025, 4:00–5:00 p.m. Format: Online / English Speaker: Hyeon Seok Park, National Assembly Futures Institute Title: “Durability of Legislation in Unified vs. Divided Government: Evidence from the 21st Korean National Assembly” Zoom Link: https://snu-ac-kr.zoom.us/j/89023127006?pwd=qU7GHTnPbecXFSJEhx0vz64TDEmkzC.12025-05-16
The 9th Theory Atelier: “(Back to the) Future Fieldwork”
<Overview> How to reflect on K-Future methodologically? In this lecture, I discuss my current research project on “post- and meta-urban Korea” in its framework and methods, after three decades of crafting the contours of my ethnographic methods, involving critical reflection2025-05-09
Special Lecture – Between Game and Martial Law: The Political Shift in the Series
Director Hwang Dong-hyuk reportedly drew parallels between the pro- and anti-arrest protests for Yoon Suk-yeol, which unfolded on either side of the police line in Hannam-dong, and the ‘OX vote’ in , aiming to raise questions about the democratic majority rule2025-04-18
The 8th Theory Atelier: “How I Learned to Stop Doing ‘Theory’ and Love the ‘Soviet’”
<Overview> After receiving my Ph.D. in 2002 with a dissertation on the twentieth-century Russian semiotician Yuri Lotman, I spent roughly a decade as a scholar of theory. This presentation reflects, in a deliberately personal and somewhat affective tone, on how2025-03-28
Political Economy Team 5th Open Seminar
Date and Time: Friday, March 14, 2025, 4:00–6:00 p.m. Format: Online / English Speaker 1: Elizabeth Thurbon, UNSW SydneyTitle: “What Developed Countries Can Learn from South Korea” Speaker 2: Tat Yan Kong, SOAS University of LondonTitle: “The Failure of Social2025-03-14
Political Economy Team 4th Open Seminar
Date and Time: Friday, February 21, 2025, 4:00–6:00 p.m. Format: Online / English Speaker 1: Jaeyong Song, Seoul National UniversityTitle: “Evolution of Technology Sourcing Strategies of Korean Electronics Companies: The Case of Samsung Electronics” Speaker 2: Nahee Kang, King’s College2025-02-21
The 7th Theory Atelier: “The Unencumbered Self: Probability, Space-Time, and the Modern Myth of Freedom”
On February 10, 2025, the K-Future Team held a Theory Atelier centered on “The Unencumbered Self: Probability, Space-Time, and the Modern Myth of Freedom,” a lecture by Samantha Frost, Professor of Political Science at the University of Illinois. Conducted in2025-02-10