East-West Reflections on Demonization: North Korea Now, China Next?

edited by Geir Helgesen and Rachel Harrison

This very timely volume addresses, front on, the issue of rising demonization and bad behaviour in international relations. Focusing on the Korean peninsula but also pulling China and other countries into the frame, 18 authors from seven different countries share concerns, experiences and insights that underline a truth crucial to our times: that politics and culture cannot be separated. While East and West share commonalities, their individual cultures pursue differing values and norms that in turn inflect ideas about power and authority, self and society, right and wrong, and consequently about what is good and what is bad. Failure to understand and manage these differences has led to rising East– West tensions and heightened risk of a new Cold War.

Previously director of the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, Geir Helgesen has long been engaged in the politics and culture of both Koreas.

Besides editing the quarterly journal South East Asia Research, Rachel Harrison of SOAS University of London is well known for her research on cinema, literature, cultural studies and gender studies.

Publication year: 2020
282 pp / 229mm x 152mm
2 figures
ISBN: 978-87-7694-289-2, Paperback
ISBN: 978-87-7694-288-5, Hardback

NIAS Press