| There have been few studies that test various major theories on security policies in the case of a middle power like South Korea. My dissertation focuses on South Korea's foreign military policy. I test four competing theories---offensive realism, defensive realism, neoliberal institutionalism, and political process---in the context of South Korean security policy. I apply these contending theories to four cases of policy decisions: nuclear armament, Theater Missile Defense (TMD), ballistic missile development, and alignment (or lack thereof) with Japan and rapprochement with China. Based on archival research, elite interviews and extensive evaluation of domestic policies in Korea, Japan, and China, I develop a theory which best explains South Korean national security policy decisions in these four military policy areas. From the findings I conclude that no overarching IR theory successfully explains South Korea's security behavior, although defensive realism and the political process model demonstrate impressive results. |
