about professor lim
I arrived at Cal State Los Angeles in August 1997. Since then, I have taught courses in International Relations (POLS 427, POLS 492), Global Politics (POLS 374), Comparative Politics (POLS 457, 373 and 550), International Political Economy (POLS 426 and 526), U.S. Foreign Policy (POLS 425), East Asian politics (POLS 452 and 459), Globalization (POLS 492), Global Terrorism and Political Violence (POLS 492), and American Government (POLS 150).
In 2005, I was awarded a senior Fulbright scholar's grant for research and teaching in South Korea. During spring semester 2006, I was a visiting professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Korea University, where I taught two courses (International Conflict and Cooperation and American Foreign Policy) and conducted research on transnational migration, among other topics.
In addition to my teaching responsibilities, I am or have been involved in a variety of professional and scholarly activities. These include: Associate Director for the Center for Korean-American and Korean Studies at CSLA (until 2009); co-editor of E-ASPAC: An Electronic Journal in Asian Studies (2002-2005); Research Associate, Center for Comparative Immigration Studies; editorial board member, Korean Studies; and faculty advisor/director of the History-Social Science Project at CSLA (2001-03). From 1997-2003, I was CSLA's representative to the Academic Council on International Programs (ACIP), which is responsible for overseeing the study abroad program for the entire CSU system.
My scholarly research and writing has been published in a variety of scholarly journals, including Asian Survey, Competition & Change, Alternatives: Social Transformation and Humane Governance, Modern Asian Studies, The Journal of Contemporary Asia, Korean Studies, Pacific Affairs, The Asia-Pacific Journal, Asian Perspective, and others. I also published articles in several edited books, including Global Turbulence: Social Activists' and State Responses to Globalization (Ashgate, 2003) and Controlling Immigration: Global Perspectives, 2nd ed. (Stanford University Press, 2004). In 1999 published a reader on global issues, Stand! Contending Ideas and Opinions: Global Politics. In 2005/06, I published a textbook, Doing Comparative Politics: An Introduction to Approaches and Issues (Lynne Rienner). In 2009, I completed a revised, updated, and expanded 2nd edition of the book, which was published in 2010.
I have also written book reviews for a variety of journals, including: Korean Studies, Acta Koreana, Sungkyun Journal of East Asian Studies, Pacific Affairs, and Millennium: Journal of International Studies. In addition, I have served as an outsider reviewer for a range of publishers, organizations, and journals: Blackwell; Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars; Center for Global Partnership/The Japan Foundation; Critical Asian Studies; Emotion, Space and Society; International Migration Review; the Journal of East Asian Studies, Korean Studies; Longman; McGraw-Hill; Pacific Affairs; Prentice-Hall; Social Problems; Journal of Politics; Global Society; among others.
Before coming to CSLA, I was a Korea Foundation Post-Doctoral research fellow at the University of California at Berkeley's Center for Korean Studies (from September 1996 to June 1997). I have also taught as a Lecturer and Teaching Assistant at the University of Hawaii (Department of Political Science) and as a Guest Lecturer at Lewis & Clark College (Portland, Oregon).
As a graduate student, I received a number of fellowships, including a Korea Foundation grants (pre- and post-doctoral), a Fulbright Fellowship amd Senior Fulbright Award to South Korea, and numerous Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowships. I have also lived and worked in both Japan (Kobe) and South Korea (Seoul and Cheongju).
representative professional activities
Research, writing, and conference activity. Over the past several years, my main research interest has been the politics of transnational (worker) migration, particularly in the Asia Pacific region (primarily Korea and Japan). I have presented numerous papers based on my research at both major conferences and a smaller venues. I am currently engaged in a couple of collaborative projects. The first examines the trafficking, smuggling, and sexual exploitation of Korean women to the United States. This is part of a larger research project involving researchers in Korea, Australia, Japan and the U.S. The second is a project on "Global Migration and South Korea" with a special focus on multiculturalism. This project is headed by researchers at Korea University and UC Berkeley is is funded by the Korea Foundation.
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Textbook Project: Explaining Continuity and Change in East Asia (working title ) • Designed as introductory textbook on political and economic change/continuity in Japan, China, South Korea, North Korea and Taiwan. Conceptual stage. Developing in conjunction with Professor James Kim, Cal Poly Pomona.
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| Publication (Journal Article): "The Global Sex Trade and the 'Korean Paradox,'" submitted to International Migration. Revise and Resubmit (R&R) |
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| Publication (Journal Article): "South Korea as an 'Ordinary' Country: Industrialization, Democracy and the Politics of Immigration." Journal of Ethnicity and Migration Studies (JEMS), special issue. Accepted for publication. |
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2010 |
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2010 |
Publication (Book): Doing Comparative Politics, 2nd Edition • A revised and updated edition, published in July 2010. The first chapter can be downloaded for free directly from the publisher's (Lynne Rienner) website. |
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| 2010 |
| Conference Presentation. “South Korea as an ‘Ordinary’ Country: A Comparative Inquiry into the Prospects for ‘Permanent’ Immigration to Korea,” presentation at the ASPAC (Asian Studies on the Pacific Coast) 2010 Conference, Portland State University (Oregon), June 18-20 |
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| 2010 |
| Publication (Journal Article): "Rethinking Belongingness in Korea: Transnational Migration, 'Migrant Marriages,' and the Politics of Multiculturalism," in Pacific Affairs (special issue) |
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| 2009 |
| Presentation (Invited Speaker): "Global Sex Trafficking: The Perplexing case of South Korea," End Slavery Now Conference, held at Mt. San Antonio College, November 14. (Click here to download copy of presentation slides) |
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| 2009 |
| Publication (Magazine Article): "South Korea and Global Sex Trafficking," Korean Quarterly • With Karam Yoo as co-author |
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| 2009 |
| Publication (Journal Article): " Who is Korean? Migration, Immigration, and the Challenge of Multiculturalism in Homogeneous Societies," Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus |
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| 2009 |
| Colloquium (Research Presentation): "Migration, Immigration, and the Myth of Korean Uniqueness," University of Pennsylvania, April 23. (Click here or on the icon in the right hand column to download a copy of Powerpoint Presentation in PDF format.) |
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| 2008 |
| Publication (Journal Article). "Will South Korea Follow the German Experience? Democracy, the Migratory Process, and the Prospects for Permanent Immigration in Korea," Korean Studies, v. 32 (published in 2009) |
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| 2008 |
| Conference Presentation. "Who is a Korean? Migration, Immigration and the Challenge of Multiculturalism in Homogeneous Societies" at the "Global Migration and Multiculturalism in East Asia" conference, held November 7, 2008 at Korea University (in Seoul). |
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2008 |
| Funded Research Report. The Dynamics of Trafficking, Smuggling and Prostitution:
An Analysis of Korean Women in the U.S. Commercial Sex Industry. Submitted to the Bombit Women’s Foundation (Seoul, Korea) |
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| 2008 |
| Roundtable Participant: "Globalization, Migration and Human Trafficking," 49th Annual ISA Convention, March 26-29, San Francisco |
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| 2008
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| Panel Speaker: "Our Sisters Are Not for Sale: Examining the Issue and Implications of Asian Trafficked Victims in the United States," Northwestern University, Feb. 7. |
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| 2008 |
| Publication (Book Review): Richard Stubbs, Rethinking Asia's Economic Miracle, in Millennium: Journal of International Studies |
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| 2007
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| 2007 |
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| 2007
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| Publication (Book Review): Samuel Kim, The Two Koreas and the Great Powers (Cambridge University Press, 2006), in Pacific Affairs |
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| 2007 |
| Conference Presentation: “Will South Korea Follow the German Experience? Democracy, the Migratory Process, and the Prospects for Permanent Immigration in Korea.” Paper prepared for the "Korean nation and its Others in an Age of Globalization and Democratization," University of Hawaii (Honolulu), April 20-21. [Published in Korean Studies, see above] |
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| 2007 |
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| 2006
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| 2006 |
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| 2006 |
| Publication (Journal Article): "Democracy, Political Activism and the Expansion of Rights for International Migrant Workers in South Korea and Japan: A Comparative Perspective," IRI Review, vol. 11, no. (Spring), pp. 156-204 |
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| 2006 |
| Publication (Book Review): Choi Jang-jip, Democracy After Democratization: The Korean Experience, in the Sungkyun Journal of East Asian Studies, vo. 6, no. 1 (April), pp. 125-132. To read, please go to my Seoul Blog page |
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| 2006 |
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| 2005
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| 2005
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| Publications (Reference articles): "South Korea" and "North Korea." Governments of the World, edited by Neal Tate (Farmington Hills: Mamillan Reference USA/Gale Group), forthcoming |
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2005 |
| Conference Presentation: "Political Activism and the Expansion of Rights for Transnational Migrant Workers: South Korea and Japan in Comparative Perspective." Presentation at the 46th Annual ISA Convention, March 1-5, 2005, Honolulu, Hawaii |
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| 2004 |
| Conference Activity: Organizer, "Korea and Global Migration" conference • December 11, 2004, held in Los Angeles, CA at the Oxford Palace Hotel |
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| 2004 |
| Publication (Book chapter): "Migration and the Korean Case: Toward Convergence or a New Asian Model?", in Controlling Immigration: Global Perspectives, 2nd ed. Stanford University Press |
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2003 |
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2003 |
Conference Presentation: "NGOs, Transnational Migrants, and the Promotion of Rights in South Korea: A Comparative Perspective." Presentation at Relunctant Hosts: Japan as a Recent Country of Immigration in Comparative Perspective Conference. UC San Diego, Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, October 18-19 |
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2003 |
| Publication (Book chapter): "Foreign Migrant Workers and Civil Society in South Korea: The Search for Power in an Era of Globalization," in Global Turbulence: Social Activism and State Responses to Globalization. Ashgate |
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| 2002 |
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2002 |
| Conference Presentation: Commentary on "The Korean Case." Controlling Immigration: A Global Perspective," Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at the University of California, San Diego, May 17-18 (commentary to be published in forthcoming book, 2002, Stanford University Press) |
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2002 |
| Conference Presentation: "Racing from the Bottom? The Nexus between Civil Society and Transnational Migrants in South Korea." Presentation at the Annual AAS (Association for Asian Studies) Meeting, Washington, D.C., April 4-8 |
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2001 |
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2001 |
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2001 |
| Conference Presentation: "Postimperialism, Globalization and the Korean Business Group." Presentation at ASPAC Annual Conference, Monterey Institute of Internatonal Studies, June 8-10 |
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Publication (Book review): Samuel Kim (ed.), Korea's Globalization (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), in Korean Studies |
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| Conference Activity: Co-organizer: 3rd International Diaspora Conference. California Polytechnic University, Pomona, June 2-4 |
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| Publication (Book review): Eun Mee Kim, Big Business, Strong State: Collusion and Conflict in South Korean Development, 1960-1990 (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1997), in Korean Studies |
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| Publication (Journal article) "The Fight for Equal Rights: The Power of Foreign Workers in South Korea" Alternatives: Social Transformation and Humane Governance, v. 24, no. 3 |
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| Publication (Edited book/reader): Editor, Stand! Contending Ideas and Perspectives on Global Issues (Houghton Mifflin College Div.) |
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| Publication (Book review): Sung Deuk Hahm and L. Christopher Plein, After Development: The Transformation of the Korean Presidency and Bureaucracy and Dae Hwan Kim and Tat Yan Kong (eds.), The Korean Peninsula in Transition, in Millennium |
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| Conference Presentation: "Colonialism and The Origins of Societal Power in South Korea." Presentation for the 4th Pacific and Asia Conference on Korean Studies, University of British Columbia, May 10-12 |
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| Publication (Book review): Mark L. Clifford, Troubled Tiger: Businessmen, Bureaucrats, and Generals in South Korea, rev. ed., in Acta Koreana, v. 1, no. 1 |
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| Publication (Journal article):"Rethinking the Politics of Development in South Korea," Journal of Contemporary Asia, v. 28, No. 4, pp. 457-483 |
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| Publication (Book review): Dennis McNamara, Trade and Transformation in Colonial Korea, in Korean Studies, v. 22 |
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| Publication (Book review): Lewis M. Branscomb and Young-Hwan Choi, eds. Korea at the Turning Point: Innovation-Based Strategies for Development., Korean Studies, v. 22 |
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| Conference Presentation: "The Power of the Disempowered: Foreign Migrant Workers in South Korea." Presentation at the ISA-West Annual Meeting, October 18-19 |
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| Conference Presentation: "Power, Capitalism and the Authoritarian State: Rethinking the Politics of Development in South Korea. Presentation at ASPAC Annual Conference, June 26-29 |
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| Publication (Book review): Michael Hobday, Innovation in East Asia: The Challenge to Japan, in Korean Studies, v. 21 |
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| Dissertation: "Competition, Markets and the Politics of Development in South Korea, 1945-1979," Ph.D. diss., University of Hawaii at Manoa |
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| Publication (Book review): Karl J. Fields, Enterprise and the State in Korea and Taiwan, in Korean Studies, v. 20 |
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| Publication (Review article): "Explaining Economic Development in South Korea and East Asia: A Review of the Last Dozen Years of Research," in Korean Studies, v. 18 |
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educational background
Ph.D. •
University of Hawaii, Manoa, Department of Political Science | I arrived in at the University of Hawaii in 1991, after spending 15 months in Kobe, Japan (where I taught English). I spent my first few years catching up on coursework (I had been out of school for a 
long time). After two plus years, I was ready to begin work on my dissertation, which was a reinterpretation of capitalist development in South Korea using the concept of competition. My dissertation committee included Sankaran Krishna, Peter Manicas, and Hagen Koo. Before beginining to write, however, I spent a year in South Korea on a Fulbright graduate fellowship, spending time at the Institute of Far Eastern Studies (IFES) of Kyungnam University and at Seoul National University. I finished my dissertation about year after coming back from Korea and was awarded my doctorate in December 1996. (For more pictures of Manoa Valley, where UH is located, click here.)
M.A. •
Columbia University, School of International and Public Affairs | At Columbia University, I attended the School of International and Public Affairs (better known as SIPA) for two years, from 1984 to 1986. While at Columbia, I was a research assistant in the East Asian Institute. I also lived at the International House, which had students from around the world as residents.
B.S. •
Lewis & Clark College, Department of International Affairs | Lewis & Clark College is a very small liberal arts college situated on a hill overlooking Portland, Oregon. Despite its size, the school has a very strong program in international relations (one of the strongest in the country at the undegraduate level), which I was very fortunate to have attended. Lewis & Clark is also where I met Dr. Joseph Ha, who had a very important influence on my life and career. He not only inspired me to pursue my interest in internatonal relations, but encouraged me to attend Columbia University, his alma mater, and provided me an opportunity to live and work in South Korea shortly after I graduated. Dr. Ha is now retired from Lewis & Clark. I am also very grateful to Lewis & Clark College for providing me an extraordinarily generous financial aid package, which made it possible for me to attend a school that otherwise would have been beyond my financial reach. Click here for a vitual tour of the Lewis & Clark campus.
personal and family background
My Family Background. I grew up in a large family of five brothers and two sisters. My father is originally from Hawaii, while my mother grew up in Oakland, California. Both my parents, though, have roots in Hawaii. Their parents, in fact, were among the first Koreans to emigrate to the United States: my grandfathers went to Hawaii as farm workers around 1903, while both my grandmothers came later as "picture brides."
My family didn't have much money, but all my brothers and sisters attended college (three attended UC Berkeley) and almost all earned at least a master's degree. The occupations of my sibling range from small business owner, to Army intelligence officer (in the DIA), to probation officer, to Naval Criminal Investigative Service agent (who now works primarily as a computer forensics examiner) to associate athletic director at Yale University (now at Stanford University), to elementary school teacher.
As the second youngest member of my family, I followed in a lot of footsteps, but also charted my own course. I was the only one in my family, for example, to leave California directly to attend college; unlike my siblings, morever, I decided to attend a small, private liberal arts school -- Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon (which, unfortunately, is now most famous for its most infamous graduate, Monica Lewinsky). Lewis & Clark, however, is also famous for its program in International Affairs, which is one of the strongest of its kind. Before attending LC, I didn't even know one could major in International Affairs; after taking a few courses, though, I was absolutely hooked. Indeed, the path that eventually led to me to earn a Ph.D. in political science started at Lewis & Clark College. But it hasn't been a direct path. After earning my Bachelor's degree, I spent a year in Korea teaching English and, upon returning, went to Columbia University, where I earned as master's in international relations. Rather than going straight to a Ph.D. program, I started working. I spent almost four years in the banking and insurance industries. I then spent a year and a half in Japan, where I again taught English. Finally, though, I headed back to graduate school ending up, of all places, in Hawaii. While Hawaii was not my first choice, it ended up being a very good choice (perhaps the best choice) for me. Not only did I earn my degree, but I developed immensely as a scholar, learned more about the place where my family first settled after coming to the United States, and even met my future wife.
See Professor Lim's Facebook page, which has more personal information mixed with a little professional info. My new blog is located here.
More Stuff. Although I don't train anymore, I hold a second degree black belt (nidan) in Shorin-ryu karate (a style of karate developed in Okinawa). I've also trained in judo and taekwondo. As a college student, I also used to compete on a fairly regular basis (I've won numerous awards in fighting, forms and traditional weapons competition). In addition to my own training, I also taught classes in self-defense and karate at Lewis & Clark College. Click here to see more photos of me"in action" during my (much) younger days.
On January 31, 2003, my wife and I had our first child--Ailani Sato-Lim. Click here to see a few pictures from Ailani's first year, or here for more pictures from 18-30 months old
