Gi-Wook Shin

Professor of Sociology
Director of the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
William J. Perry Professor of Contemporary Korea
Director of the Korean Studies Program
Senior Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
Professor, by Courtesy, of East Asian Languages & Cultures
Ph.D. Sociology, University of Washington, 1991
M.A. Sociology, University of Washington, 1985
B.A. Sociology, Yonsei University, 1983
Gi-Wook Shin

Gi-Wook Shin is the William J. Perry Professor of Contemporary Korea in Sociology and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies; the director of the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center; the founding director of the Korea Program, all at Stanford University. As a historical-comparative and political sociologist, his research has concentrated on social movements, nationalism, development, democracy, and international relations.

Shin is the author/editor of twenty-five books and numerous articles. His recent books include Korean Democracy in Crisis: The Threat of Illiberalism, Populism, and Polarization (2022); The North Korean Conundrum: Balancing Human Rights and Nuclear Security (2021); Demographics and Innovation in the Asia-Pacific (2021); Shifting Gears in Innovation Policy from Asia (2020); Strategic, Policy and Social Innovation for a Post-Industrial Korea: Beyond the Miracle (2018); Superficial Korea (2017); Divergent Memories: Opinion Leaders and the Asia-Pacific War (2016); Global Talent: Skilled Labor as Social Capital in Korea (2015); Criminality, Collaboration, and Reconciliation: Europe and Asia Confronts the Memory of World War II (2014); New Challenges for Maturing Democracies in Korea and Taiwan (2014); Asia’s Middle Powers? (2013); Troubled Transition: North Korea's Politics, Economy, and External Relations (2013); History Textbooks and the Wars in Asia: Divided Memories (2011); South Korean Social Movements: From Democracy to Civil Society (2011); One Alliance, Two Lenses: U.S.-Korea Relations in a New Era (2010); Cross Currents: Regionalism and Nationalism in Northeast Asia (2007); Rethinking Historical Injustice and Reconciliation in Northeast Asia (2006); and Ethnic Nationalism in Korea: Genealogy, Politics, and Legacy (2006). Due to the wide popularity of his publications, many of them have been translated and distributed to Korean audiences. His articles have appeared in academic journals including American Journal of Sociology, Comparative Studies in Society and History, Political Science Quarterly, International Sociology, Nations and Nationalism, Pacific Affairs, Asian Survey, and Journal of Democracy

Shin is currently writing two books – Next Korea (in Korean and English) and Talent Giants in the Asia-Pacific Century. The former is based on his monthly columns published in Shindonga (New East Asia), Korea’s oldest monthly magazine, that have addressed main challenges and solutions for Korea’s future. The latter is a comparative study of talent strategies of Japan, Australia, China, and India that were instrumental to their rise. In Summer 2023, Shin launched the Stanford Next Asia Policy Lab (SNAPL) which is a new initiative committed to addressing emergent social, cultural, economic, and political challenges in Asia. Across four research themes– “Talent Flows and Development,” “Nationalism and Racism,” “U.S.-Asia Relations,” and “Democratic Crisis and Reform”–the lab will bring scholars focused on Asia to produce interdisciplinary, problem-oriented, policy-relevant, and comparative studies and publications. 

Shin is not only the recipient of numerous grants and fellowships, but also continues to actively raise funds for Korean/Asian studies at Stanford. He gives frequent lectures and seminars on topics ranging from Korean nationalism and politics to Korea's foreign relations and historical reconciliation in Northeast Asia and to talent strategies. He serves on councils and advisory boards in the United States and South Korea and promotes policy dialogue between the two allies. He regularly writes op-eds and gives interviews to the media in both Korean and English.

Before coming to Stanford in 2001, Shin taught at the University of Iowa (1991-94) and the University of California, Los Angeles (1994-2001). After receiving his BA from Yonsei University in Korea, he was awarded his MA and PhD from the University of Washington in 1991.

 

Latest Publications

Books

Karen Eggleston, JS Park, and Gi-Wook Shin, eds. Demographics and Innovation in the Asia-Pacific. The Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, Stanford University and The Brookings Institution. 2021.

Robert King and Gi-Wook Shin, eds. The North Korean Conundrum: Balancing Human Rights and Nuclear Security. The Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, Stanford University and The Brookings Institution. 2021.

YS Lee, Takeo Hoshi, and Gi-Wook Shin, eds. Shifting Gears in Innovation Policy: Strategies from Asia. The Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, Stanford University and the Brookings Institution. 2020.

Choi, Joon-Nak, Yong Suk Lee, and Gi-Wook Shin, eds. Strategic, Policy and Social Innovation for Post-Industrial Korea: Beyond the Miracle (New York: Routledge, 2018).

Gi-Wook Shin. Superficial Korea (in Korean). Seoul, Korea: Munhak Dongne. 2017.

Gi-Wook Shin and Daniel Sneider. 2016. Divergent Memories: Opinion Leaders and the Asia-Pacific War.Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Yeon-Cheon Oh, Gi-Wook Shin, and Rennie J. Moon. Internationalizing Higher Education in Korea: Challenges and Opportunities in Comparative Perspective. The Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, Stanford University, and the Brookings Institution. 2016.

Shin, Gi-Wook and Joon Nak Choi. Global Talent: Skilled Labor as Social Capital in Korea (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2015).

Diamond, Larry and Gi-Wook Shin, eds.  New Challenges for Maturing Democracies in Korea and Taiwan (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2014).

Shin, Gi-Wook and Paul Y. Chang eds.  South Korean Social Movements: From Democracy to Civil Society (Routledge, 2011).

Shin, Gi-Wook.  One Alliance, Two Lenses: U.S.-Korea Relations in a New Era (Stanford University Press, 2010).  Translated into Korean, 하나의 동맹, 두개의 렌즈: 새시대의 한미관계 (한국과 미국, 2010).

Shin, Gi-Wook.  Ethnic Nationalism in Korea: Genealogy, Politics, and Legacy (Stanford University Press, 2006).  Translated into Korean, 한국 민족주의의 계보와 정치 (창작과 비평사, 2010).

Journal Articles & Book Chapters

Shin, Gi-Wook. "South Korea After Impeachment," Journal of Democracy 28.4 (October 2017): 117-131 (with Rennie J. Moon).

Shin, Gi-Wook. "Aid as Transnational Social Capital: Korea's Official Development Assistance in Higher Education," Pacific Affairs 89.4 (December 2016): 817-838 (with Rennie J. Moon).

Shin, Gi-Wook. "Asymmetry of Power and Attention in Alliance Relations: The US-ROK case," Australia Journal of International Affairs70.3 (2016): 235-255 (with Hilary Izatt and Rennie J. Moon).

Chirot, Daniel, Gi-Wook Shin, and Daniel Sneider, eds.  Criminality, Collaboration, and Reconciliation: Europe and Asia Confront the Memory of World War II (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2014).

Shin, Gi-Wook. "History Wars in Northeast Asia," Foreign Affairs (April 2014) (with Daniel Sneider).

Shin, Gi-Wook. "Past Activism, Party Pressure, and Ideology: Explaining the Vote to Deploy Korean Troops to Iraq," (with Sookyung Kim and Paul Y. Chang), Mobilization Vol.18, No.3 (2013): 243-266.

Shin, Gi-Wook. "Identity Politics and Policy Disputes in U.S.-Korea Relations," Political Science Quarterly, Vol.127, No.2 (2012): 289-310.

Shin, Gi-Wook. "Agrarian Conflict and the Origins of Korean Capitalism," American Journal of Sociology Vol.103, No.5 (1998): 1309-1351.

Shin, Gi-Wook. "The Historical Making of Collective Action: The Korean Peasant Uprisings of 1946," American Journal of SociologyVol.99, No.6 (1994): 1596-1624.

Contact

Telephone
(650) 723-2408
Office
Encina Hall E301
Mailing Address

616 Jane Stanford Way
Encina Hall E301
Stanford, CA 94305-6055
United States

Office Hours

Office Hours

Tuesdays 3-5pm by appointment - please contact Kristen Lee