The balance of power politics in East Asia System in the nineteenth century: a case of Korean- Russian relations

Özet

The second half of the nineteenth century was a period when empires and kingdoms in East Asia experienced significant political, economic and social changes. During this period, while an order in which China was the dominant power was functioning, there were some breakings and challenges to China in the system. There are many extra-regional and intra-regional factors that underpin these breakings. The most important factor emerging from the outside of the region was that the Western powers engaged with the Chinese Empire and the fact that China was not victorious against the West. When looking at the dynamics within the region, the most striking development was the reflections of the increasing military and economic power of Japan, which resulted from the reform process since 1868. The increasing struggle for influence between the Chinese and the Japanese Empires was also closely related to the Korean Kingdom, which had been under the influence of China for centuries. The Kingdom of Korea, which is stuck in this struggle, has found the cure sometimes seeking the support of China and sometimes tried to protect itself against Japan by taking the support of the Russian Empire. In this context, the study will attempt to analyse balance of power relationships by focusing on the changes in the East Asian international system since the second half of the 19th century. At this point, Russian-Korean relations will be chosen as an example/case and it will be tried to explain under what conditions Korea saw Russia as a balancing actor in its foreign policy and how the political history of the Korean-Russian relations developed in this perspective.