This paper examines the internal dynamics of Korean political parties to understand why the minority coalition government of Kim Dae-jung suffered from political stalemate or deadlocks in the legislature. It shows that a focus on the size of the government in terms of a majority status in the legislature does not offer a convincing explanation of why the Kim Dae-jung administration slid towards ungovernability. Instead better insights come from an analysis of party organization, an aspect of party politics rarely examined through in-depth analysis. The paper shows that in terms of the key dimensions of organization (leadership type, factionalism, funding, linkage role) Korean political parties fail to connect citizens to the political system.

This book examines how inter-and intra-party coalition-building affects governability in South Korea. Focusing on the Kim Dae-jung administration (1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003) as a case study in the failure of a government to turn electoral success into stable governability, or ability to implement reform policies, the book's research draws on two bodies of literature which, though focusing on the same dependent variable (cabinet or government stability), have rarely been used in tandem: coalition research on parliamentary systems and studies of divided government in presidential systems.Youngmi Kim argues that a weak institutionalization of the ruling party and the party system accounts for political instability and inefficient governability in Korea and, in doing so, her study makes a number of key contributions to the field. Theoretically it proposes a framework that integrates a rationalist approach with one that acknowledges the role of political culture. It further enhances the understanding of factors affecting governability after coalition-building across regime types and aims to build on recent demands for broader cross-regime analysis of minority/divided government and of the determinants of governability. This has important comparative implications as coalition-building within (semi-)presidential systems has occurred in other post-authoritarian contexts.The book finally provides a new data set that fills a gap in a field where Western cases constitute the main focus of research.The Politics of Coalition in Korea will be of interest to students and scholars of Korean studies, Korean politics, Asian studies and Asian politics.

This profile on Mandalay examines a frequently mentioned but little studied city, which is undergoing significant changes in its urban fabric and socioeconomic landscape. After decades of political and economic isolation Mandalay is set to return to its once-held role of important trade and transport hub in SouthEast Asia. As it looks at Mandalay's geographical location and physical context, the article highlights the impact of climate change on a city already vulnerable to extreme weather effects. This is followed by an account of how the different historical phases experienced by the city impacted on its physical structure, with different sets of buildings accompanying its historical evolutions. Subsequently, the article describes Mandalay's current socio-spatial structures and reviews key policy and planning developments, before zooming in on a key development project currently in progress. Technical support and funding from the international community are playing a key role in assisting national and local authorities turn Mandalay into a resilient and sustainable city in the heartland of SouthEast Asia.

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