Patrick McEachern - North Korea, Iran and the Challenge to International Order: A Comparative Perspective

This book examines and compares the political situations in North Korea and Iran and the contemporary security challenges posed by their illicit nuclear aspirations.

Although government officials, including a series of American presidents, strategic policy documents, and outside analysts have repeatedly noted that North Korea and Iran occupy a similar challenge, the commonality has largely been left unexplored. This book argues that North Korea and Iran are uniquely common in the world today in their illicit nuclear aspirations in violation of their legal commitments made under the Non-Proliferation Treaty. The work evaluates alternative arguments, some of which sustain that the two states should be grouped together based on other metrics, such as nuclear powers that sponsor terrorist organizations or nuclear states that violate human rights, and find alternative explanations do not hold up to empirical scrutiny. Drawing on newly declassified documents and Iranian and North Korean sources, the book provides a comprehensive and comparative assessment of the two states social, historical, economic, and domestic political structures and situations to make these determinations. Furthermore, it reviews the nuclear issue stemming from Iran and North Korea and the efforts to constrain these programs. The book concludes with specific policy recommendations that apply diplomatic lessons learned from dealing with Iran to North Korea and vice versa.

This book will be of interest to students of nuclear proliferation, international security, foreign policy and international relations.

Patrick McEachern is a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow, Foreign Service Officer, and author of Inside the Red Box: North Koreas Post-totalitarian Politics (2010). He received his doctorate from Louisiana State University.

Jaclyn OBrien McEachern is a practicing canon lawyer and author of multiple scholarly articles on the Wests relations with Islam. She received her doctorate from The Catholic University of America.

Series Editors: Aaron Karp and Regina Karp

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Global Security Studies emphasizes broad forces reshaping global security and the dilemmas facing decision-makers the world over. The series stresses issues relevant in many countries and regions, accessible to broad professional and academic audiences as well as to students, and enduring through explicit theoretical foundations.

Global Nuclear Disarmament

Strategic, political, and regional perspectives

Edited by Nik Hynek and Michal Smetana

Nuclear Terrorism

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Edited by Brecht Volders and Tom Sauer

Stable Nuclear Zero

The vision and its implications for disarmament policy

Edited by Sverre Lodgaard

Nuclear Asymmetry and Deterrence

Theory, policy and history

Jan Ludvik

International and Regional Security

The causes of war and peace

Benjamin Miller

US Foreign Policy Towards the Middle East

The realpolitik of deceit

Bernd Kaussler and Glenn P. Hastedt

North Korea, Iran, and the Challenge to International Order

A Comparative Perspective

Patrick McEachern and Jaclyn OBrien McEachern

First published 2018

by Routledge

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2018 Patrick McEachern and Jaclyn OBrien McEachern

The right of Patrick McEachern and Jaclyn OBrien McEachern to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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ISBN: 978-1-138-29512-4 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-315-10078-4 (ebk)

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To Timmy

During the course of writing this book over the last few years, we benefited greatly from many thoughtful academics, policy analysts, journalists, friends, and colleagues who generously shared their thoughts, encouragement, and constructive criticism. There are simply too many to list to fully capture our intellectual debt of gratitude. However, we would be remiss if we did not thank Mark Gasiorowski for initially discussing this idea with us many years ago. An Iran scholar and comparativist, Mark challenged us to think like a social scientist and provided many early insights for us on Iran and the Middle East when at least one of the authors had previously been focused more exclusively on North Korea and East Asia. The Asan Institutes convening conference panels on the North KoreaIran comparison let us hear directly from many important voices on this topic and helped us define our own unique views and thoughts. Our endnotes are the most comprehensive listing of those we owe for their thoughts; we appreciated the opportunity to not only read these scholars work, but they often generously made themselves available to discuss further.

At the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, we want to thank Marrie Schaefer who graciously took on the task of reading through the entire manuscript to grant the State Departments approval of our pre-publication review request. Of course, this book is written in our personal capacity views expressed are our own and are not necessarily those of the Department of State or the U.S. government.

At Routledge, Andrew Humphrys was an impeccable guide on substance and process. His constructive advice and direction at every turn genuinely improved the manuscript. Likewise, we appreciate the thoughtful comments and critiques by two anonymous reviewers that improved the theoretical argument, conclusions, and the books overall organization. Hannah Ferguson at Routledge is the model of a senior editorial assistant and has very ably helped move the manuscript through the production process.

Last but not least, we want to acknowledge the support and sacrifice from our son, Timmy. His understanding as one or the other parent was barricaded at the neighborhood coffee shop on the weekends and evenings after work and his continual bright smile and good cheer helped us complete this book in due course. For his critical contribution, we dedicate this book to him.