Since the 2010s, South Korea has established itself as a ‘middle power’, but it has rarely been factored into conversations of grand strategy and global order. This is beginning to change as South Korea and its neighbors increasingly think about its strategic mark. But how does a small country surrounded by major powers navigate geopolitical competition in an increasingly fractured world?
Andrew Yeo examines how South Korea is evolving in response to its strategic environment and, in doing so, is becoming an ‘adaptive middle power’. Yeo focuses on the role that narratives – the stories told and retold by a nation – play in shaping how South Korea defines and pursues its national objectives. At the strategic level, policymakers draw on narratives to justify and legitimize grand strategy to domestic and foreign audiences. At a deeper level, narratives are constitutive of national identity, reflecting historical and cultural legacies, ideology, and belief systems that weigh heavily on a country’s strategic outlook. Moving beyond narrow debates over ‘alliance versus autonomy’, Yeo demonstrates how South Korea has built upon foundational and strategic narratives to leverage both hard and soft power to craft a more expansive global role.
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