Lim Sijeong, Prakash Aseem
Division of International Studies Korea University Seoul South Korea.
Department of Political Science University of Washington Seattle Washington USA.
Nations Natl. 2021 Jul;27(3):623-637. doi: 10.1111/nana.12749. Epub 2021 Jun 6.
Exogenous shocks such as pandemics have a profound influence on how citizens think about their country. We explore how the successful handling of COVID-19 shaped South Korean citizens' perception of their country. Empirically, we compare data from surveys conducted in August 2019 and April 2020. Using regression on matched samples, we find a significant increase in general national pride. More importantly, we find an increase in positive assessments of their country in domains directly related to the COVID-19 response (civic awareness and international leadership) but not in domains less directly related to the pandemic. We also find that while Koreans take pride in their collective response to the crisis, their disenchantment with the political class has grown. The implication is that citizens offer a remarkably nuanced understanding of how the COVID-19 response reflected the strengths of the Korean society, as opposed to the Korean political system.
诸如大流行病之类的外部冲击对公民如何看待自己的国家有着深远影响。我们探讨了韩国成功应对新冠疫情如何塑造了韩国公民对自己国家的认知。从实证角度来看，我们比较了2019年8月和2020年4月进行的调查数据。通过对匹配样本进行回归分析，我们发现国民总体自豪感显著增强。更重要的是，我们发现在与新冠疫情应对直接相关的领域（公民意识和国际领导力）中，对国家的积极评价有所增加，但在与疫情不太直接相关的领域中则没有。我们还发现，虽然韩国人对他们对危机的集体应对感到自豪，但他们对政治阶层的失望情绪有所增加。这意味着公民对新冠疫情应对如何反映韩国社会的优势，而非韩国政治体系，有着非常细致入微的理解。
