North Korean Ideology: A Cold War History by Thomas Stock ISBN 9780198961895, 9780198961888, 0198961898, 019896188X, 101093/97801989618950010001 instant download

North Korean Ideology: A Cold War History by Thomas Stock ISBN 9780198961895, 9780198961888, 0198961898, 019896188X, 101093/97801989618950010001 instant download

This book investigates the origins and development of North Korean ideology, offering the first comprehensive Cold War history of its intellectual evolution. It challenges the widespread view that North Korea’s ideology was primarily shaped by local or indigenous factors, a perspective that often reinforces the regime’s narrative of exceptionalism. Instead, it situates North Korean ideology within the broader Marxist-Leninist tradition, a global intellectual force characterized by constant debate and adaptation across different contexts. Through this lens, the book demonstrates that North Korea’s ideological trajectory was profoundly influenced by global Marxist-Leninist controversies, geopolitical changes, and the strategic interests of party elites. Using Eastern European archival materials, North Korean party documents, and other new sources, this book provides an unprecedented and empirically grounded look into the exact evolutionary process of North Korea’s state ideology, from its Soviet origins all the way to the iconic chuch’e ideology. It argues that this transformation was less a product of enduring historical legacies such as Confucianism or Kim Il Sung’s guerrilla experience and more the result of global ideological dynamics and Cold War geopolitics. In other words, North Korean ideology constitutes a thoroughly global product, not the hermetic construct it is often made out to be.