Yangmo Ku
E-mail — moses73@gwmail.gwu.edu
Major — Comparative Politics
Minor — International Relations
Current Research
Historical Reconciliation and Regional Integration in East Asia and Europe, East Asian Security, Korean/Japanese Politics and Foreign Policy
Education
M.A. George Washington University
B.A. Sogang University, Seoul
Publications
Dissertation Title: The Politics of Memory and Reconciliation: How to Deal with Historical Issues in Japan and Germany
Committee: Mike Mochizuki (Chair), Harvey Feigenbaum, Holger Schmidt
Abstract
My dissertation addresses the question of how and why Japan and Germany have differently dealt with historical issues (i.e. history textbooks and forced labor). My explanation focuses on the following two independent variables: the nature of the ruling coalition in both states and the mobilization of societal groups. I argue that a perpetrator state takes conciliatory policies toward historical problems when transnational activism is powerful and the state is led by a progressive ruling coalition.
My dissertation supplements theoretical weaknesses in the literature on historical reconciliation by constructing a new analytical framework. It also challenges the common assumption that vibrant civil societies contribute to the resolution of historical contentions between former adversary states.
Other PublicationsForthcoming, “The Politics of Historical Memory in Germany: Brandt’s Ostpolitik, the German-Polish History Textbook Commission, and Conservative Reaction” To be published in Journal of Educational Media, Memory, and Society, Vol. 2, No. 2 (Fall 2010). "International Reconciliation in the Postwar Era, 1945-2005: A Comparative Study of Japan-ROK and Franco-German Relations." Asian Perspective 32 (Fall 2008): 5-37.