08 May 2020
Student News: Congratulations to Seung Hee Lee (GA Class of 2020) for being awarded the Global Affairs Capstone Prize for 2020 for his capstone: “Examining the Effect of Chaebol Endorsement on Voting Behavior in South Korea.” In his capstone, Seung Hee explored the impact of implicit chaebol endorsement of particular political figures on voter behavior in South Korea. He took literature on corporate endorsements which had largely been developed within the American context and applied it in an original manner in the South Korean context where the intertwining of large family-run South Korean conglomerates and the country’s politics has been both pervasive and highly problematic. He developed a novel survey experiment followed by qualitative interviews with respondents to test the impact of chaebol endorsement under various conditions: the state of the economy, the specific chaebol acting as the political endorser, and the socioeconomic status of each voter. He found that chaebol endorsements are likely to produce a positive effect on the endorsed candidate during economic recessions, when the endorser is perceived to be reputable, and when the voter is a member of the higher socioeconomic class.
Congratulations also to Zixing Gu who was the other finalist for the 2020 Global Affairs Capstone Prize for her outstanding capstone, “Signalling in Chinese Foreign Policy: Role of Nationalism on Social Media.”
What sets Global Affairs students apart from the rest?
In Global Affairs, we strive to understand the underlying causes and consequences of transnational socio-economic, political, and development challenges. Our curriculum prepares students with important skill sets that enable them to thrive in the private and public sectors after Yale-NUS. Most notably, Global Affairs majors are critical thinkers who are equipped with competencies in linking theory to practice and who understand their role as responsible, global citizens.
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