Institutional Transformations in Colonial Ko rea (1905–1945)

The paper employs the case of colonial Korea to analyze the features of the Oriental type of colonialism: the spread of the centralized management system exercising control in the political, economic, and cultural spheres to the "external territories". The stages of the institutional integration of Korea into the structure of the Japanese Empire are highlighted. The first (preliminary) stage is associated with the period of the Japanese protectorate (1905-1910) and is characterized by transplantation of institutions of transitive type, aimed at limiting the autonomy of the Korean authorities in domestic and external decision-making, "implantation" of agents of Japanese influence into all power structures, and rebuilding of the law enforcement bodies and the armed forces. The second stage (1910-1920) coincides with laying the foundation of the bureaucratized state capable of both controlling and transforming the social system. The main task at this point was to create state-regulated, highly efficient, export-oriented agriculture. The key instrument of achieving this task was the formation of an extensive network of state-sponsored associations that influenced agricultural production according to the state requirements as well as market networks to channel exported and imported goods within the imperial economy. The third stage (1920-1930) is the period of complication of the state bureaucratic machine and formation of the state-controlled capitalist economic model in the colony. The fourth and final stage (1930-1945) is characterized by industrialization and economic growth accompanied by the strengthening of market economic institutions and consolidation of the authoritarian bureaucratic regime focused on further exploitation of the Korean population and suppression of the Korean national identity. It is concluded that at all stages, the implementation of economic and political institutional transformations was caused by the need to integrate Korea in the imperial economy. However, full integration was never accomplished. The attempt of forced social and cultural homogenization of these territories with the empire's internal regions and building of asymmetric relations "master (Japan) - servant (Korea)" facilitated the collapse of the imperial social system and contributed to much further tension in later interstate relations.