A most enterprising country : North Korea in the global economy / Justin V. Hastings.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hastings, Justin V., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Asian Studies.

General Economics.

Korea (North)--Politics and government--1994-2011.

Korea (North).

Korea (North)--Foreign economic relations.

Korea (North)--Economic conditions.

Local Subjects:

Asian Studies.

General Economics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (237 pages) : illustrations

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Ithaca, NY : Cornell University Press, [2016]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

North Korea has survived the end of the Cold War, massive famine, numerous regional crises, punishing sanctions, and international stigma. In A Most Enterprising Country, Justin V. Hastings explores the puzzle of how the most politically isolated state in the world nonetheless sustains itself in large part by international trade and integration into the global economy. The world's last Stalinist state is also one of the most enterprising, as Hastings shows through in-depth examinations of North Korea's import and export efforts, with a particular focus on restaurants, the weapons trade, and drug trafficking. Tracing the development of trade networks inside and outside North Korea through the famine of the 1990s and the onset of sanctions in the mid-2000s, Hastings argues that the North Korean state and North Korean citizens have proved pragmatic and adaptable, exploiting market niches and making creative use of brokers and commercial methods to access the global economy.North Korean trade networks-which include private citizens as well as the Kim family and high-ranking elites-accept high levels of risk and have become experts at operating in the blurred zones between licit and illicit, state and nonstate, and formal and informal trade. This entrepreneurialism has allowed North Korea to survive; but it has also caused problems for foreign firms investing in the country, emboldens the North Korean state in its pursuit of nuclear weapons, and may continue to shape the economy in the future.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Figures

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction The Enterprising Country

1. Surviving the Arduous March through Enterprise

2. State Trading Networks versus the World

3. Entrepreneurialism, North Korea-Style

4. A Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Investment Environment

Conclusion: The Future

Notes

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Jul 2019)

ISBN:

9781501706059

1501706055

OCLC:

965905338