Regime change and Malaysia-South Korea relations: Domestic and structural explanations of Mahathir Mohamad and Moon Jae-In's foreign policy reorientations
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-1-2022
Abstract
The idea that a change of government can alter the foreign policy orientation of a state is nothing new in international relations. This paper presents a preliminary investigation into the causal linkages between domestic political regime changes and foreign policy restructuring in Malaysia and South Korea. It assumes that regime changes allow for a greater propensity for the recalibration of foreign policy interests. Since the effectiveness of any bilateral cooperation depends on successful formulation and implementation, this paper dissects the transition, convergence and challenges in bilateral cooperation between the two countries. Both Mahathir Mohamad and Moon Jae-in saw a necessity to diversify economic partners that had resulted from the policies of previous administrations. While the basic elements of their foreign policy remained the same, both Malaysia and South Korea reevaluated their policies with regard to the international issues affecting their domestic interests. While relations had once been transactional at best, the convergence of the Look East Policy (LEP) 2.0 and the New Southern Policy (NSP) advanced bilateral relations for 22 months until the collapse of Mahathir's government in 2020. © 2022 Issues & Studies.
Keywords
Regime change, Foreign policy, Look east policy, New southern policy, Malaysia, South Korea
Divisions
East
Funders
2020 Korea Foundation Research Grant,Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Malaya [Grant No: PV029-2019]
Publication Title
Issues and Studies
Volume
58
Issue
3
Publisher
World Scientific