How South Korea Regulates and Protects Its Elections

Voting for the next South Korea president is already underway with early and shipboard voting having commenced earlier in the week. South Korea’s democracy is a major facet of what makes South Korea a success story. June 3rd will only be South Korea’s 21st presidential election. While it looked like Lee was going to win in a landslide, the conservative candidates have made some serious headway in the last few weeks. But we entered the polling blackout period, one of the many unique ways South Korea tries to regulate, protect, and promote its elections. Let’s take a look at some facets of Korea elections that make the system unique, as they are laid out in the Public Official Election Act (POEA).

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Kissinger’s Shadow: New Required Reading

Kissinger’s Shadow has been heralded as one of the must-read books in political science and international relations for both students and the every-day history buff . In this piece we will review Kissinger’s Shadow, a monograph by Greg Grandin and see if it truly is a new standard in the field (spoiler: it’s an excellent piece of scholarship). Grandin is a very well published Professor, who taught at New York University before finding a new home at Yale. His research is originally grounded in Latin American history, specifically publishing The Blood of Guatemala. He has since expanded his research to encapsulate a larger international perspective. Outside of his monographs and teaching endeavors, he has continued to write extensively and serve on the board of the publication The Nation. 

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