CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2022
| Author | Kang, Seonkyeong |
|---|---|
| Title | Strategy for Differentiation: South Korea's Global Green Growth Leadership Seeking |
| Summary | South Korea announced Green Growth Strategy and its ambition to be a global green growth leader as a responsible middle. Ironically, when Korea announced the strategy, it faced an economic downturn that required immediate fiscal remedy. As the South Korean economy is highly dependent on carbon-intensive industries, the strategy raised concerns among the public, industry, and political elites about the economic benefits of green growth in the short term. This thesis addresses the research a question "Why does South Korea persist in global green growth leadership despite pushbacks from domestic public and political elites?" This thesis analyses presidential speeches by conducting topic modelling and qualitative content analysis. By uncovering topics presented in relations to green growth strategies and contextualising, it argues that South Korea's strategy aims to differentiate itself from its previous image of a 'developing country' and insist on its middle power identity. This further argues that middle powers attempt to play a leading role in a particular policy area which affects to its national image transition the most. This thesis bridges the gap between normative middle power theory and empirical study on the implication of the identity into the national strategy as well as provide heuristic research approach. |
| Supervisor | Large, Daniel |
| Department | Public Policy MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2022/kang_seonkyeong.pdf |
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