Professor Lee will examine why South Korean labor unions have engaged in militant activism since the country's transition to democracy in 1987. This situation contrasts with Taiwan, to which Korea's economic and political development is otherwise very similar. Professor Lee will argue that the militant unionism reflects the weakness of Korea's democratic institutions, particularly its political parties.
Professor Lee received her doctoral degree in political science from Duke University and has been teaching at the State University of New York at Binghamton since 2006. Her research has appeared in Studies in Comparative International Studies, Critical Asian Studies, Asian Survey, Korean Observer, and Asia-Pacific Forum. Her book, tentatively entitled Democratic Politics and Labor Activism in East Asia, is forthcoming from Stanford University Press in 2011.
Philippines Conference Room
Many Chinese express dissatisfaction with their healthcare system with the popular phrase Kan bing nan, kan bing gui (“medical treatment is difficult to access and expensive”). Critics have cited inefficiencies in delivery and poor quality of services. Determining the pattern of patient satisfaction with health services in China—and the causes of patient dissatisfaction—may help to improve health care not only in China but in countries in similar predicaments throughout the world.
Using data from a sample of 5,036 residents from 17 provinces collected in a 2008 household survey by the National Bureau of Statistics of China, we analyze the patterns of patient preferences, concerns, and satisfaction among six social groups, classified by socioeconomic status including education level, income, and type of employment.
From regression results we conclude that the gap between what patients predict their service will entail and what they perceive the service actually did entail is the key determinant of lower satisfaction, especially for patients who care most about the quality of service and patients with higher social positions. Patients from lower social groups are more concerned with price and the attitudes of medical professionals, and generally express higher satisfaction with their health care experiences than their wealthier peers, despite receiving lower-level services. Patients with higher social positions are more concerned with the technical competence and quality of providers, and struggle with what they perceive as a lack of freedom to purchase and receive their desired services, as well as long waiting times and poor physician-patient interactions. These patterns of patient satisfaction appear to be the consequence of China’s unreliable basic delivery system, lack of advanced health service supply, and distorted health market. We discuss how what we have learned about patients’ dissatisfaction can be used to restructure the delivery system to better meet and shape patients’ needs.
The European Union’s efforts to export its model of regional integration have often been contrasted with the persistently top-down character of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations. Few, however, have examined the actual pattern of interest representation inside ASEAN and the extent to which it has been influenced by EU norms.
The findings are surprising: Neither has the EU actively promoted its essentially liberal-pluralist brand of interest representation in Southeast Asia, nor have ASEAN elites been inclined to adopt it, notwithstanding domestic pressures to make the Association more “people-centered.” ASEAN elites have instead equipped the organization with a top-down, state-centered political culture with corporatist and organicist features reminiscent of Europe before World War II.
Jürgen Rüland is a professor of political science at the University of Freiburg, whose Southeast Asia Program he chairs with support from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. He also heads the Advisory Council of the German Institute of Global and Area Studies (Hamburg). Together with Christl Kessler, he was awarded the William Holland Prize for the best article published in Pacific Affairs in 2006. His research interests include Southeast Asian regionalism, interactions between different regions, and processes of cultural appropriation. He will be at Stanford from September through December 2010
Daniel and Nancy Okimoto Conference Room
This lecture will describe North Korea as seen from the inside - its people, their aspirations and fears, and what it is like to live amongst them.
With frequent appearances on BBC discussing North Korea, Mr. Everard, former British Ambassador to North Korea, 2006-2008, brings extensive knowledge of North Korea, China and South America to APARC. He served as British Ambassador to Uruguay in 2001-2005, and was head of the Political Section in Beijing 2000-2001. He was responsible for political relations with the troubled states of West Africa and managed mutinational efforts to restore democracy to Bosnia, 1995-1998. He became the youngest British Ambassador to Belarus in 1993.
During his fellowship at the Asia-Pacific Research Center, Mr. Everard will hold seminars related to his research project on North Korean life and society and will be involved in various projects on Korea. He is also a Visiting Senior Fellow at the Asia Research Centre of London School of Economics.
Mr. Everard studied French, German and Chinese at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and studied Chinese history and economics at Bejing University. He holds an MA from Manchester Business School.
Philippines Conference Room
No longer in residence.
John Everard, a retired British diplomat, is now a consultant for the UN.
In October 2006, only a few short months after Everard arrived in Pyongyang to serve as the British ambassador, North Korea conducted its first-ever nuclear test. Everard spent the next two-and-a-half years meeting with North Korean government officials and attending the official events so beloved by the North Korean regime. During this complicated period he provided crucial reports back to the British government on political developments.
He also traveled extensively throughout North Korea, witnessing scenes of daily life experienced by few foreigners: people shopping for food in Pyongyang’s informal street markets, urban residents taking time off to relax at the beach, and many other very human moments. Everard captured such snapshots of everyday life through dozens of photographs and detailed notes.
His distinguished career with the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office spanned nearly 30 years and four continents (Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America), and included a number of politically sensitive posts. As the youngest-ever British ambassador when he was appointed to Belarus (1993 to 1995), he built an embassy from the ground up just a few short years after the fall of the Soviet Union. He also skillfully managed diplomatic relations as the UK ambassador to Uruguay (2001 to 2005) during a period of economic crisis and the country’s election of its first left-wing government.
From 2010 to 2011 Everard spent one year at Stanford University’s Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, conducting research, writing, and participating in major international conferences on North Korea.
He holds BA and MA degrees in Chinese from Emmanuel College at Cambridge University, and a diploma in economics from Beijing University. Everard also earned an MBA from Manchester Business School, and is proficient in Chinese, Spanish, German, Russian, and French.
An avid cyclist and volunteer, Everard enjoys biking whenever he has the opportunity. He has been known to cycle from his London home to provincial cities to attend meetings of the Youth Hostels Association of England and Wales, of which he was a trustee from 2009 to 2010.
Everard currently resides with his wife in New York City.
Pantech Fellowships, generously funded by Pantech Group of Korea, are intended to cultivate a diverse international community of scholars and professionals committed to and capable of grappling with challenges posed by developments in Korea. We invite individuals from the United States, Korea, and other countries to apply.
Eiichi Yamamoto is a corporate affiliate visiting fellow at Shorenstein APARC for 2010-11. He joined the Japan Patent Office (JPO) in 1999 and has worked as a patent examiner, handling patent applications in the field of organic chemistry. In 2007, he was in charge of policy planning of intellectual property, especially with respect to the utilization of intellectual property, at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). He obtained his BS and MS in Chemical Science and Engineering from Kobe University.
