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The Fukushima disaster of 2011 shook the globe, arousing warm debate and new research within the academic fields of countries in both the West and the East on issues related to nuclear security, public trust, government governance, risk governance and risk perception along with technological and social aspects. The Fukushima incident not only revealed the importance of risk governance in the East Asian region, but also became an important turning point in the restructuring of energy in several East Asian nations. However, the regulatory culture in East Asian countries is by nature different to that of their western counterparts; the history and culture of East Asia has formed East Asian countries’ unique regulatory characteristics.

This book aims to establish a risk governance structure for the East Asian region, providing a completely new perspective for both practical implementation and the academic field. It focusses on the problems of risk governance in East Asia. Through a discussion of the risk related issues raised by contemporary globalization, this book outlines the unique form of East Asia’s risk governance architecture. It brings together the work of top academics from Japan, South Korea and Taiwan to provide a common picture of how these three countries’ governments are dealing with the energy transition brought on by the climate change crisis. The various aspects of East Asia’s unique regulatory culture and governance models are placed into context, while East Asia’s risk governance theoretical framework is outlined.

Editor

Kuei-Tien Chou is Director of Graduate Institute of National Development and also Director of Risk Society and Policy Research Center, National Taiwan University. He got his doctoral degree in sociology from Universität München. His research interests are in the field of technological risk, climate change, risk governance, technological policy-making, public participation, science and democracy as well as East Asia modernity.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: The Cosmopolitan Governance of Energy Transition (Kuei-Tien Chou)

Part I. Risk, Energy and Governance

2. Risk Culture, Risk Framing and Nuclear Energy Dispute and in Japan before and after the Fukushima Nuclear Accident (Koichi Hasegawa)
3. The Anti-nuclear movement and ecological democracy in South Korea (Dowan Ku)
4. Triple Helix Energy Transition Movement in Taiwan (Kuei-Tien Chou)

Part II. Participation and Community Power

5. Citizens' Participation-based Energy Transition in a Mega-city: the Case of One Less Nuclear Power Plant in Seoul, South Korea (Sun-Jin Yun)
6. Energy Democratization in Taiwan: Current Problems and the Civil Society’s Advocacy (Shu-Fen Kao & Ying-Feng Chen)
7. The Grassroots Movement for Energy Transition of Korean Society (Jin Hee Park)

Part III. Energy and Social Risk

8. Structural Disaster beyond Fukushima: Messages from Sociology of Science and Technology (Miwao Matsumoto)
9. Health Effects of Radiation Exposure from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster in Japan: Discussing Uncertainty in the Context of Environmental Issues (Yuji Tateishi)
10. Nimby or Civil Disobedience? Conflicting Framing and Discourses of Knowledge: Wind Turbine Construction in Taiwan (Mei-Fang Fan)
11. Conclusion: Toward a Participatory and Democratic Risk Governance (Ying-Feng Chen & Chien-Ming Hsu)

Contributors

Koichi Hasegawa is Professor of Department of Sociology, Graduate School of Arts and Letters, Tohoku University, Japan.

Dowan Ku is Director of Environment and Society Research Institute, Seoul, South Korea.

Kuei-Tien Chou is Director of Graduate Institute of National Development and also Director of Risk Society and Policy Research Center, National Taiwan University.

Sun-Jin Yun is Professor of Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Seoul National University.

Shu-Fen Kao is Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Fo Guang University.

Ying-Feng Chen is Assistant Professor, Department of Public Administration, Chinese Culture University.

Jin Hee Park is Professor, Dharma College, Dongguk University, Seoul, South Korea.

Miwao Matsumoto is Professor, Department of Sociology, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, The University of Tokyo, Japan.

Kohta Juraku is Associate Professor, Department of Humanities, Social and Health Sciences, School of Engineering, Tokyo Denki University.

Yuji Tateishi is Associate Professor, School of Sociology, Kwansei Gakuin University, Japan.

Mei-Fang Fan is Professor at the Institute of Science, Technology and Society, National Yang-Ming University; researcher at the Risk Society and Policy Research Center of National Taiwan University.

Chien-Ming Hsu is Assistant Research Fellow of Risk Society and Policy Research Center, College of Social Science, National Taiwan University.

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