Theorizing East Asian International Relations in Korea

This article discusses the analytically unbalanced theorizing in International Relations (IR) when it comes to a region, or subsystem. The tension is between theoretical universalism and contextual exceptionalism, and it is present in the IR community in Korea. If the former group is loyal to the general principles of scientific inquiry of social research, the latter group emphasizes the unique historical experience of Korea and its theorizing efforts to reflect such uniqueness. The author argues that for the IR community in Korea to develop its own name brand, the "Korean School," as an independent and influential force like the English School, it should collectively seek to bridge its perceptual representation concerning historical uniqueness with scientifically theorizing efforts while simultaneously incorporating the general theories of IR with unique regional independent variables.