---

Monash University Korean Studies Research Hub (MUKSRH) presents:

 

Monash Beyond Borders Korean Studies Seminar Series 2026

Seminar 1

'South Korea’s Decade of Living Dangerously: Navigating Economic Coercion without Middlepowermanship, 2016–26'

Dr. Alexander Hynd (University of Melbourne)

 

  Room 221, Learning & Teaching Building (LTB), Clayton VIC 3168 [in-person event]

19th March, 2-3pm (Melbourne time)

Abstract:

There is widespread consensus among scholars and policymakers that South Korea is a middle power. According to the middle power behavioural image, Korea should be expected to embrace strategies including multilateralism, coalition building, niche diplomacy, and good international citizenship. But is this actually how the country behaves?

In this seminar I will examine Korea’s recent experiences as a target of economic coercion by more powerful states: China, the US, and Japan. What challenges did Korea face in each case, and through what strategies did it respond?

I will argue that Korea’s ability to withstand sustained pressure in each of these cases supports narratives of its rise ‘from shrimp to whale.’ However, its strategic responses have been a poor fit with the popular behavioural image of middle powers. And nor are South Korea’s strategies comparable to those enacted by authoritarian great powers like China, autarkic ‘rogue states’ like North Korea, or minor powers like the Solomon Islands. Instead, I argue, we see in the South Korean case something quite different: compromise without capitulation in the face of the great powers – the US and China – and retaliation without direct escalation against Japan. Put together, analysis of these cases complements and further develops a growing body of scholarship that is critical of the middle power behavioural image.

Bio: 

Alexander M. Hynd is Lecturer at the University of Melbourne's Asia Institute, and Deputy Director of the Master of International Relations. He frequently writes about South Korean foreign policy, with research interests in international hierarchies, economic statecraft, and ‘inbetweener’ states. Alexander is currently finishing up a book about how Korea, Indonesia and Australia ‘became’ middle powers.