The Evolution of the South Korea-United States Alliance

Uk Heo is University Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee and an International Scholar at Kyung Hee University, South Korea. Terence Roehrig is Professor of National Security Affairs and Director of the Asia-Pacific Studies Group at the US Naval War College.

• Introduction; 1. Theory and the ROK-US alliance; 2. Early relations and establishing the ROK-US alliance; 3. Democratization and alliance; 4: Security motivations for the alliance; 5. Economic growth and the KOR-US free trade agreement; 6. Changing military dimensions of the alliance; Conclusion: the joint vision and the future of the alliance.

'Despite very good scholarship on various aspects of the US-Korea alliance, we do not have a good single-volume account that covers the entire history. Uk Heo and Terrence Roehrig fill this gap. They also show how the rapid growth and democratization of junior partners both expands the possibilities for cooperation and opens up recurrent conflicts. Needless to say, timely and relevant.' Stephan Haggard, University of California, San Diego