By I can recommend this book I was reminded of today to any reader who has a general interest in history.
It’s an academic book – based on the author’s dissertation – but the close up look it gives of how power was wielded and contested in Chosun society is interesting to a more general audience, I think. The author draws from Max Weber and looks at power-in-action at the highest level of society.
If you look at the title of each chapter, you can get a good idea if it is something you’d be interested in.
CHAPTER ONE. The Monarchy And Ideology
I. Rectification of Name Theory and Korean Monarchy
II. Indoctrination of MonarchCHAPTER TWO. The Monarchy and Decision Making
I. Constitution of The Decision-Making Body
II. Sphere of ConflictCHAPTER THREE. The Monarchy and The Historian
I. Historian’s Watch
II. Historical Notes
III. Compilation of Veritable Record
The king is supposed to be the father figure of the society in Confucianistic terms, but the book describes – in detail with personal examples – how Korean kings were forced by the scholar-officials to sit through demanding lessons on Confucianism and Confucian ethics, as well as lectures on how their (the king and his family and associates’) private actions (like too many falcon hunting trips) were detrimental to Confucianism and the health of the nation, to the point some kings chose to give up the thrown altogether — or so it seemed…
They would abdicate the throne in favor of the Crown Prince, but, because of Confucianism’s strong emphasis on filial piety, the father could expect his son to follow his advice — leaving the son to “endure” the complaints and ideological brow-beating by the bureaucrats, while the father tried to relax behind the scenes.
Another thing I found interesting was how the usually youngish, idealistic officials of the Censorate could bring the entire government apparatus to a halt through sit-in strikes or simply refusing to put the Censorate’s signature on documents.
Reading this book, you get the sense that – really – times haven’t changed that much.
The Korean (and Japanese) National Assembly has been known for its mass scrums on the house floor. Britain has the PM questioning hour. And the US just demonstrated its gridlock with the boondoggle marathon over raising the debt limit and spending cuts…
