civil society

Governing at a Distance or at Arm’s Length: The Divergence of Labor Migration Policy in Taiwan and South Korea

Facing labor shortages and looming economic challenges, East Asian countries decided to open their labor markets and recruit low-skilled foreign workers. For example, Taiwan adopted a guest-worker program in 1992 that heavily involved private recruitment agencies as labor mediators, whereas Korea launched a temporary labor migration program in 2003 through government-to-government agreements.

The Conditions of Establishing the Common Good in Rural Communities: An Analysis of Villagers’ Responses to Environmental Crisis in Cambodia

Based on the perspectives of Communitarianism, this research examines Cambodian civil society through document analysis, in-depth interviews and field observations conducted in two rural villages in Cambodia. By comparing the two villages, this research explores factors hindering collective actions for common good in the situation that the environmental crisis threatens villagers’ subsistence. The research results show that low education level, low income level, and inherited trauma caused by the Khmer Rouge genocide are factors causing villagers’inactions.

Governing at a Distance or at Arm’s Length: The Divergence of Labor Migration Policy in Taiwan and South Korea

Facing labor shortages and looming economic challenges, East Asian countries decided to open their labor markets and recruit low-skilled foreign workers. For example, Taiwan adopted a guest-worker program in 1992 that heavily involved private recruitment agencies as labor mediators, whereas Korea launched a temporary labor migration program in 2003 through government-to-government agreements.

The Idea of Community: A Historical Review

This essay reviews the idea of community in Western political thought. The classical paradigm is civic republicanism which emphasizes common good. self-rule, and civic virtue as the major characteristics of political life. After the dissolution of the classic theory, there are three paradigms of community in modern political thought—state, civil society, and nation. The modern state is based on the ideal of neutrality with regard to social conflicts. Since its theoretical emphases are on sovereignty and the law, it becomes the dominatnt ruling apparatus of modern political community.

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