Jin-Young Kwak and what it means to be a woman in academia
Dr. Jin-Young Kwak is currently the Provost and Vice-President of Konkuk University, Seoul, Korea. Previously she has been a professor in the Department of Political Science at Konkuk University. She was also the first women Dean of the College of Social Science and the Graduate School of Public Administration. She received her PhD in Political Science from Northwestern University, an MA in Political Science from Ewha Women's University, and her BA in English Literature from Ewha Women's University. Her research on Political Parties and party behavior has been published in the Asian Perspective, the Korean Political Science Review, and the Journal of Party Politics to name a few. She has also co-authored several publications such as: No Democracy Without Parties, the New Dynamics of Democracy in South Korea, The Politics of Governance, and Party Systems and Country Governance. In this interview, Dr. Kwak has shared some insights into her time at Northwestern University, her career trajectory, and being the first woman in an administrative position in higher education. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Q: Tell us about your time at Northwestern University. What did you enjoy most about being a graduate student?
Jin-Young Kwak: Actually, when I was in the first quarter of graduate studies, I was so nervous. However, after the first quarter, I started to enjoy the freedom of studying and living independently, as it was my first time living all by myself. What I enjoyed most were the many books that I could easily access in the wonderful library. Every Saturday morning, I could enjoy the huge (but almost empty) library and copy machines, which were hard to use during the weekdays. Moreover, the huge shopping malls and Korean markets nearby were refreshing to visit after working hard all week. I recall that time at NU as the most wonderful season of my 20s.
Q: Why did you choose to study at Northwestern University?
JYK: NU was the top-ranking university, especially in the field of Political Science, and that is so true now. I didn’t have any other reason not to choose to study at NU. Moreover, I wanted to major in political parties, and NU has outstanding scholars, in particular Prof. Kenneth Janda, who I strongly hoped would be my supervisor by Prof. Kenneth Janda.
Q: What motivated your dissertation research? During your studies, were there any findings or outcomes that were unexpected or surprising?
JYK: Before I studied at NU, I got my master's degree in political science in Korea. My master's thesis was about “measuring civic attitude among Korean high school students.” At that time, Korea was in beginning a period of democratization, and I thought that nurturing democratic attitudes in civil society was the basis for consolidating democracy. Based on the master's thesis, I began to think about how social interest could be reflected in political systems and is important to sustaining those democratic systems.
My scholarly interest, based on this belief, became solid when I decided my dissertation topic. I shared my ideas with my adviser, Prof. Kenneth Janda, and he suggested I measure social reflection with a quantitative index, such as social concentration and social attraction. At the beginning, I tried to compare the patterns of reflecting on social interest by parties in Asian countries with those of Western countries. However, due to the Euro-barometer data error, I could do nothing but narrow down the cases of mainly Korea and Japan, with the brief comparison of four European countries and the US.
Most of the research outcomes were as I had expected. However, the surprising results were that Korean parties reflected social interest in a stable pattern. I expected the patterns would fluctuate as I had felt the Korean political system was unstable. Contrary to my expectation, Korean parties in the 1990s were very conservative-oriented and the patterns of social reflection were very stable.
Q: Was there anything in particular you learned at Northwestern that helped you throughout your career?
JYK: At NU, I learned about the diversity of society. In this respect, the most memorable class was “Women and Politics.” In this class, students were very diverse in their ethnicity, gender, age, and way of living. Every classmate showed respect for everyone’s differences and uniqueness. They also carefully listened to each other's opinions. From this class and throughout my years at NU, I learned that there were so many differences and diversities among us, and we have to tolerate them. Since returning to Korea, I have been teaching “Introduction to Comparative Politics”, and I have always emphasized that tolerance is the most important merit for keeping a democratic society. Moreover, when I was the vice-minister of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission of the Korean government, this learning of tolerating differences had always kept me from one-way oriented judgement.
Q: As a researcher with an international profile, what was the most valuable lesson you learned? Do you have any advice for early career scholars who are pursuing global research careers?
JYK: The NU Ph.D. was obviously the core element of my career, especially for qualifying university professorship. When I applied for professor positions in Korea, I was a young married woman scholar with two kids, who was not from the top three universities in Korea. In the early 2000s, these factors were weaknesses. However, through my NU Ph.D, I was highly recognized as an outstanding scholar, and I believe that helped me to be hired as a professor.
Moreover, right after returning from the U.S., the early career scholars from the NU helped me a lot. At that time, there were 10 Northwestern Ph.Ds. working in Korea, and most of them were very famous in Korean academic society. Owing to their help, I had chances to teach and join the academic society easily. (as a joke, people even called us “NU Mafia.”) Recalling those times, I, again, fully appreciate their sincere guidance and thoughtfulness.
Q: Was there one research project you were most proud of working on, either as a student or professor?
JYK: The research project I am most proud of is “The Party-State Liaison in Korea: Searching for Evidence of the Cartelized System“ published in Asian Perspective in 2003. This article was the first research article that measured the cartelization of the Korean party system, applying Katz and Mair’s cartel party model. The other one is “Why Do Parties Split and Merge in South Korea?” published as a chapter in the book The New Dynamics of Democracy in South Korea published by Routledge in 2021. This article was the revision of an original paper, “The Splits and Mergers of Korean Parties and Instability of Party System,” published in the Journal of Party Politics (Korean) in 2009, which was much cited in another research. The publisher selected my article as outstanding research of explaining Korean party politics, and I rewrote it with more updated data for publishing it as a book chapter.
Q: Did your research focus change significantly after you completed grad school? What would you say was the trajectory of your work?
JYK: My research focus has not changed much. I published about 30 research papers regarding party politics in prestigious journals in Korea, most of which are about political parties and party systems. In the early 2000s, I had been interested in the Governance Theory and fascinated with this topic. However, after studying governance theory, I returned to my original topic of party politics, as I found that governance eventually depends on party politics. When I was in my sabbatical year at the Buffet Center at NU, I suggested to Prof. Kenneth Janda that we co-research to find out if the party system matters for good governance. Prof. Janda shared my interest and we started joint research.
We collected data together and shared ideas, and wrote two articles. However, the final research output was written by Prof. Janda and the book Party System and Country Governance was finally published in 2012 with my name. I deeply appreciate Prof. Janda for including my name on it.
Recently, I edited a new book (Korean) No Democracy without Parties with 5 Korean scholars. This book is not for the academic society but for the general public who have much interest in politics but no academic background in political science. So... my scholarly interest is still in the Party politics.
Q: You were appointed the first woman dean of the College of Social Science and the Graduate School of Public Administration in Konkuk University. What was it like breaking into that role?
JYK: During the last 30 years, I've faced a lot of gender prejudice. In the 1990s and early 2000s, even in academic society, it was almost impossible to be a professor of the Department of Political Science in a top 10 university. Thanks to Konkuk University’s courageous decision to hire me as a professor 24 years ago, I had the precious opportunity to be appointed as Dean of the College of Social Science and the Graduate School of Public Administration. I deeply appreciate KU’s decision. Actually, I always feel pressure and tension to perform well so as not to disappoint them. I also feel a strong responsibility to do my best not to make any notorious evaluation that may have a bad influence on other female scholars.
Q: Tell us about your time with the Republic of Korea’s Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission. Do you feel your experiences as a political science student helped you with your work?
JYK: Absolutely. The things I have dealt with in the Commission were reviewing the corruption cases and deciding acceptance or dismissal of the cases, along with sending the accepted cases to the appropriate investigating offices such as the prosecutor’s office, police, or the board of audit and inspection. Judging the relevance of the cases need, ability to examine the legality of the cases, professional knowledge about government function and administrative procedures, and political skills for communication. It is quite obvious that all these abilities came from my career as a political scientist.
Q: What is it like being a vice president and provost at Konkuk University, one of Korea’s top 10 universities?
JYK: “Heavy responsibility.” The university consists of various sectors and various members such as professors, researchers, undergraduate students, graduate students, administrators, research staff, alumni, etc. All of them have their own interests and needs. As a Provost, my work is related to coordinating and communicating with them. Moreover, as the first woman Provost, I feel a strong responsibility to show excellence. I feel strong pressure and tension to do everything wonderful. However, I'm trying to enjoy all those burdens, as it is obvious that this job is a great honor.
Q: Are there any projects or initiatives you are excited about working on at Konkuk University?
JYK: Konkuk University will celebrate its 100th anniversary in the year of 2031. Recently, KU is standing strong as a top 10 university in Korea. To be included in the top 5 by the 100th anniversary, we must reach higher without hesitating. These are strong initiatives that I am excited about working as a Provost and vice-president of Konkuk University.
Q: If there was one piece of advice you would give to students today, what would it be?
JYK: These days, the lives and goals of students are very different from ours. In this sense, probably this message is not impressive. However, if I could give one piece of advice, I would like to say, “Try to get to the 120% of your target.” I had to do more than 100% to compete with others. Reaching 120% of the target has been the motto of my life. I believe these efforts keep me strong and offer me chances to display my abilities in appropriate positions.