Varieties of base contestation: anti-U.S. base protests in South Korea and Japan

Why do some American military bases become a lightning rod for protests in overseas host communities, while others hardly make headlines? While some American bases seem to be embraced by most local residents, others are a magnet for anti-American sentiments, even as they produce negative and positive externalities of similar nature. Such different responses are even more puzzling when observed at the subnational level, with key domestic and international variables held constant. Why, for example, did Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Korea, become a magnet for militant activism, while Camp Mujuk in Pohang, Korea, hardly upsets anyone? Despite more than 500 U.S. military bases and installations that have become semi-permanent fixtures in host communities in every corner of the world, the local political dynamics they generate remain surprisingly understudied. This project sheds light on different levels of local contestation confronting American military outposts overseas – a puzzle left unanswered by existing studies where prominent anti-base movements are implicitly treated as nationally representative. The dissertation draws from protest activities in 20 localities hosting U.S. military bases in Korea and Japan to formulate a theory based on locally varying political opportunities. Building upon insights from political sociology, political psychology, behavioral economics, and base politics, it argues that differing local responses to the U.S. military footprint are shaped by the following factors that constitute local political opportunity structure: 1) major status quo changes surrounding U.S. bases, such as base expansion and relocation; 2) whether movement actors employ nationalistic, ideological, or pragmatic rhetoric; and 3) the presence (or absence) of local elite allies.

Author dc:creator

• Kim, Claudia Junghyun

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Berger, Thomas U.

• Political science

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/2144/37976

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.bu.edu:2144/37976