Mason Richey
Biographic Data
| ID | 4064608 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Mason Richey |
| GIVEN NAMES | Mason |
| FAMILY NAME | Richey |
| SIGNATURE | RICHEY M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Hankuk University of Foreign Studies |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4897-8238 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 26 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 15 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Trilateral Relations in Northeast Asia
The aim of this introductory essay is to both discuss the overall topic of this Special Issue – trilateralism in Northeast Asia – and briefly present the five research articles that follow. The Introduction begins by explaining the choice of the theme for the Special Issue, and why there are empirico-policy and theoretical reasons to examine trilateral relations in Northeast Asia through a series of dedicated research articles. The second part of…
Disputed geometries of great power politics
This article analyzes the theoretical and empirical development of contemporary minilateralism through the lens of US–China great power competition. The aim is to assess four theoretically informed predictions about US and Chinese minilateral formation: (a) the US would form minilaterals more readily than China, (b) the US would appreciate minilaterals more than China, (c) the US and China would have differing rhetorical approaches to discussing …
It’s fine in practice, but how about in theory?’ State-of-the-art minilateralism between expectations and reality
This article examines the current state of minilateralism. The overall point is to evaluate the theoretical understanding of minilateralism in light of the empirical development of minilateral groupings, which have grown significantly over the last twenty years. In particular, the article focuses on questions of institutionalisation, the relationship of minilaterals to multilateralism, the growth of minilaterals from US-led alliances, and the typ…
North Korea in 2022
North Korea’s 2022 was largely a continuation of the political/economic, military, and diplomatic dynamic from 2020–21, but with different accents. Given the path dependence of military/nuclear modernization, domestic political/economic structural constraints, and the geostrategic situation in East Asia, 2023 in North Korea is likely to continue these same trends. Two big questions loom. (1) How will North Korea open up from COVID border closures…
Can You Get There from Here? Difficulties in Generating EU Strategic Culture
Despite conceptual and methodological ambiguities, strategic culture has become a useful notion in international politics. An extension of this is the emergence of debates concerning the EU’s endeavors to cultivate a strategic culture at a supranational level. The EU has functioned as a constructivist laboratory insofar as its integration has been synonymous with the formation of institutional identity and decision-making processes that are build…
Buck-passing, Chain-ganging and Alliances in the Multipolar Indo-Asia-Pacific
Christensen’s and Snyder’s neorealist-based theory of buck-passing and chain-ganging uses offence-defence balance to predict state security policy choices under multipolarity. This approach is applicable to the US-led alliance system in the multipolar Indo-Asia-Pacific. Given regional Sino-US rivalry, hedging opportunities for US ‘hub-and-spoke’ allies will dissipate, increasing the likelihood of allies choosing to buck-pass or chain-gang in the …
To Double Down or Decouple? North Korea and China as Challenges to the U.S.‐South Korea Alliance
This article argues that both North Korea's nuclear weapons and Chinese attempts at wedge‐driving between South Korea and the United States represent threats to degrade and perhaps decouple the U.S.‐South Korea alliance. These will intensify regardless of the outcome of current diplomacy on the Korean Peninsula. This puts at risk a component of the San Francisco System that has served as a pillar for Northeast Asian regional security for almost s…
A pivotal shift
This article addresses how two globally critical regions – Europe and East Asia (especially Northeast Asia) – are transforming their relationship as an international system defined by multipolarity emerges from the unraveling of the liberal international order. This transformation includes increased trade, developing strategic partnerships between the EU and selected East Asian states, nascent EU-ASEAN inter-regional cooperation, and more diploma…
Cheap talk, costly talk, crazy talk
This article examines the patterns in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (North Korea’s) use of hostile rhetoric in its internationally-directed messaging. The article first places North Korea’s belligerent rhetoric in the context of that country’s capacity to threaten the US and its Northeast Asian allies; indeed many analysts worry that Pyongyang’s rhetoric represents a conflict escalation risk or even a casus belli. Following this, th…
Be Careful What You Wish For
There is a lacuna in the literature analyzing the mid-term (6-24 months) period after a DPRK contingency that results in the Pyongyang regime’s relatively sudden and unmanaged fall. This article helps fill that gap, particularly with respect to security issues that would challenge Korean unification efforts during such a period. Following an Introduction, Section I first makes the case for a DPRK contingency being the most plausible end to the Py…
Turning It Up to Eleven
After contextualizing North Korea's capacity for belligerent rhetoric directed toward the United States and its northeast Asian allies, the author examines the contention that rhetoric from Pyongyang represents a conflict escalation risk or even a casus belli. The results of statistical tests indicate a negative correlation between Pyongyang's rhetoric and international diplomatic initiatives, but no correlation between North Korea's verbal hosti…
Pay the Polluter
China’s Evolving Policy towards the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea under Xi Jinping
Despite international pressure to condemn North Korea (DPRK), China’s successive leaderships have dealt carefully with Pyongyang, especially vis-à-vis its nuclear weapons program. This moderate stance reflects the two countries’ decades-long relationship, summarised in the Chinese idiom that Pyongyang and Beijing are “as close as lips and teeth”. Nevertheless, the DPRK’s third nuclear test in February 2013 raised enormous challenges for the new X…
The North African Revolutions
In this paper, I discuss EU and member state externalization of the handling of non-EU, irregular migration flows. Following a historical and theoretical Introduction, I address in section “European Reactions to the Migration Flows Following the Arab Spring” the migration consequences of the 2011 North Africa revolutions, focusing particularly on how they provoked an EU migration policy crisis. Then, I show in section “Migration Policy Developmen…
Motivated Reasoning in Political Information Processing
In this article, I discuss what motivated reasoning research tells us about the prospects for deliberative democracy. In section I, I introduce the results of several political psychology studies examining the problematic affective and cognitive processing of political information by individuals in nondeliberative, experimental environments. This is useful because these studies are often neglected in political philosophy literature. Section II ha…
It’s fine in practice, but how about in theory?’ State-of-the-art minilateralism between expectations and reality
This article examines the current state of minilateralism. The overall point is to evaluate the theoretical understanding of minilateralism in light of the empirical development of minilateral groupings, which have grown significantly over the last twenty years. In particular, the article focuses on questions of institutionalisation, the relationship of minilaterals to multilateralism, the growth of minilaterals from US-led alliances, and the typ…
Disputed geometries of great power politics
This article analyzes the theoretical and empirical development of contemporary minilateralism through the lens of US–China great power competition. The aim is to assess four theoretically informed predictions about US and Chinese minilateral formation: (a) the US would form minilaterals more readily than China, (b) the US would appreciate minilaterals more than China, (c) the US and China would have differing rhetorical approaches to discussing …
North Korea in 2022
North Korea’s 2022 was largely a continuation of the political/economic, military, and diplomatic dynamic from 2020–21, but with different accents. Given the path dependence of military/nuclear modernization, domestic political/economic structural constraints, and the geostrategic situation in East Asia, 2023 in North Korea is likely to continue these same trends. Two big questions loom. (1) How will North Korea open up from COVID border closures…
Cheap talk, costly talk, crazy talk
This article examines the patterns in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (North Korea’s) use of hostile rhetoric in its internationally-directed messaging. The article first places North Korea’s belligerent rhetoric in the context of that country’s capacity to threaten the US and its Northeast Asian allies; indeed many analysts worry that Pyongyang’s rhetoric represents a conflict escalation risk or even a casus belli. Following this, th…
China’s Evolving Policy towards the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea under Xi Jinping
Despite international pressure to condemn North Korea (DPRK), China’s successive leaderships have dealt carefully with Pyongyang, especially vis-à-vis its nuclear weapons program. This moderate stance reflects the two countries’ decades-long relationship, summarised in the Chinese idiom that Pyongyang and Beijing are “as close as lips and teeth”. Nevertheless, the DPRK’s third nuclear test in February 2013 raised enormous challenges for the new X…
The North African Revolutions
In this paper, I discuss EU and member state externalization of the handling of non-EU, irregular migration flows. Following a historical and theoretical Introduction, I address in section “European Reactions to the Migration Flows Following the Arab Spring” the migration consequences of the 2011 North Africa revolutions, focusing particularly on how they provoked an EU migration policy crisis. Then, I show in section “Migration Policy Developmen…
A pivotal shift
This article addresses how two globally critical regions – Europe and East Asia (especially Northeast Asia) – are transforming their relationship as an international system defined by multipolarity emerges from the unraveling of the liberal international order. This transformation includes increased trade, developing strategic partnerships between the EU and selected East Asian states, nascent EU-ASEAN inter-regional cooperation, and more diploma…
Be Careful What You Wish For
There is a lacuna in the literature analyzing the mid-term (6-24 months) period after a DPRK contingency that results in the Pyongyang regime’s relatively sudden and unmanaged fall. This article helps fill that gap, particularly with respect to security issues that would challenge Korean unification efforts during such a period. Following an Introduction, Section I first makes the case for a DPRK contingency being the most plausible end to the Py…
Motivated Reasoning in Political Information Processing
In this article, I discuss what motivated reasoning research tells us about the prospects for deliberative democracy. In section I, I introduce the results of several political psychology studies examining the problematic affective and cognitive processing of political information by individuals in nondeliberative, experimental environments. This is useful because these studies are often neglected in political philosophy literature. Section II ha…
The North African Revolutions
In this paper, I discuss EU and member state externalization of the handling of non-EU, irregular migration flows. Following a historical and theoretical Introduction, I address in section “European Reactions to the Migration Flows Following the Arab Spring” the migration consequences of the 2011 North Africa revolutions, focusing particularly on how they provoked an EU migration policy crisis. Then, I show in section “Migration Policy Developmen…
Motivated Reasoning in Political Information Processing
In this article, I discuss what motivated reasoning research tells us about the prospects for deliberative democracy. In section I, I introduce the results of several political psychology studies examining the problematic affective and cognitive processing of political information by individuals in nondeliberative, experimental environments. This is useful because these studies are often neglected in political philosophy literature. Section II ha…
China’s Evolving Policy towards the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea under Xi Jinping
Despite international pressure to condemn North Korea (DPRK), China’s successive leaderships have dealt carefully with Pyongyang, especially vis-à-vis its nuclear weapons program. This moderate stance reflects the two countries’ decades-long relationship, summarised in the Chinese idiom that Pyongyang and Beijing are “as close as lips and teeth”. Nevertheless, the DPRK’s third nuclear test in February 2013 raised enormous challenges for the new X…
Turning It Up to Eleven
After contextualizing North Korea's capacity for belligerent rhetoric directed toward the United States and its northeast Asian allies, the author examines the contention that rhetoric from Pyongyang represents a conflict escalation risk or even a casus belli. The results of statistical tests indicate a negative correlation between Pyongyang's rhetoric and international diplomatic initiatives, but no correlation between North Korea's verbal hosti…
Pay the Polluter
Be Careful What You Wish For
There is a lacuna in the literature analyzing the mid-term (6-24 months) period after a DPRK contingency that results in the Pyongyang regime’s relatively sudden and unmanaged fall. This article helps fill that gap, particularly with respect to security issues that would challenge Korean unification efforts during such a period. Following an Introduction, Section I first makes the case for a DPRK contingency being the most plausible end to the Py…
Cheap talk, costly talk, crazy talk
This article examines the patterns in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (North Korea’s) use of hostile rhetoric in its internationally-directed messaging. The article first places North Korea’s belligerent rhetoric in the context of that country’s capacity to threaten the US and its Northeast Asian allies; indeed many analysts worry that Pyongyang’s rhetoric represents a conflict escalation risk or even a casus belli. Following this, th…
A pivotal shift
This article addresses how two globally critical regions – Europe and East Asia (especially Northeast Asia) – are transforming their relationship as an international system defined by multipolarity emerges from the unraveling of the liberal international order. This transformation includes increased trade, developing strategic partnerships between the EU and selected East Asian states, nascent EU-ASEAN inter-regional cooperation, and more diploma…
Buck-passing, Chain-ganging and Alliances in the Multipolar Indo-Asia-Pacific
Christensen’s and Snyder’s neorealist-based theory of buck-passing and chain-ganging uses offence-defence balance to predict state security policy choices under multipolarity. This approach is applicable to the US-led alliance system in the multipolar Indo-Asia-Pacific. Given regional Sino-US rivalry, hedging opportunities for US ‘hub-and-spoke’ allies will dissipate, increasing the likelihood of allies choosing to buck-pass or chain-gang in the …
To Double Down or Decouple? North Korea and China as Challenges to the U.S.‐South Korea Alliance
This article argues that both North Korea's nuclear weapons and Chinese attempts at wedge‐driving between South Korea and the United States represent threats to degrade and perhaps decouple the U.S.‐South Korea alliance. These will intensify regardless of the outcome of current diplomacy on the Korean Peninsula. This puts at risk a component of the San Francisco System that has served as a pillar for Northeast Asian regional security for almost s…
Can You Get There from Here? Difficulties in Generating EU Strategic Culture
Despite conceptual and methodological ambiguities, strategic culture has become a useful notion in international politics. An extension of this is the emergence of debates concerning the EU’s endeavors to cultivate a strategic culture at a supranational level. The EU has functioned as a constructivist laboratory insofar as its integration has been synonymous with the formation of institutional identity and decision-making processes that are build…
North Korea in 2022
North Korea’s 2022 was largely a continuation of the political/economic, military, and diplomatic dynamic from 2020–21, but with different accents. Given the path dependence of military/nuclear modernization, domestic political/economic structural constraints, and the geostrategic situation in East Asia, 2023 in North Korea is likely to continue these same trends. Two big questions loom. (1) How will North Korea open up from COVID border closures…
Disputed geometries of great power politics
This article analyzes the theoretical and empirical development of contemporary minilateralism through the lens of US–China great power competition. The aim is to assess four theoretically informed predictions about US and Chinese minilateral formation: (a) the US would form minilaterals more readily than China, (b) the US would appreciate minilaterals more than China, (c) the US and China would have differing rhetorical approaches to discussing …
It’s fine in practice, but how about in theory?’ State-of-the-art minilateralism between expectations and reality
This article examines the current state of minilateralism. The overall point is to evaluate the theoretical understanding of minilateralism in light of the empirical development of minilateral groupings, which have grown significantly over the last twenty years. In particular, the article focuses on questions of institutionalisation, the relationship of minilaterals to multilateralism, the growth of minilaterals from US-led alliances, and the typ…
Trilateral Relations in Northeast Asia
The aim of this introductory essay is to both discuss the overall topic of this Special Issue – trilateralism in Northeast Asia – and briefly present the five research articles that follow. The Introduction begins by explaining the choice of the theme for the Special Issue, and why there are empirico-policy and theoretical reasons to examine trilateral relations in Northeast Asia through a series of dedicated research articles. The second part of…
Political science (14 works) · Law (11 works) · Economics (9 works) · Sociology (9 works) · China (8 works) · Politics (8 works) · International Relations and Foreign Policy (7 works) · Law (7 works) · International trade (6 works) · Korean Peninsula Historical and Political Studies (6 works)