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North Korea: Failed State or Pariah, or Both. …?

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Development in Difficult Sociopolitical Contexts

Part of the book series: Rethinking International Development Series ((RID))

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Abstract

By any measure, North Korea (The Democratic People’ s Republic of Korea or DPRK) has serious problems, with its seemingly perennial inability to feed its population being perhaps the most telling. But, in terms of the labels now being used to define those nations that are fragile or seriously threatened in one way or another, where do we place it? This is important, I think, because these labels tell us something about the precise nature of the challenges and weaknesses besetting the nation and provoke us to suggest the most urgent policy changes and international responses that must take place to address the situation. They also speak volumes, of course, about the ideologies and biases of those applying the labels.

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© 2014 John McKay

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McKay, J. (2014). North Korea: Failed State or Pariah, or Both. …?. In: Ware, A. (eds) Development in Difficult Sociopolitical Contexts. Rethinking International Development Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137347633_13

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