Between the local and the global: diffusion of intergovernmental organization membership among Korean local governments

This article examines Korean local governments’ joining intergovernmental organizations (IGOs). In the international regime, nation-states have been regarded as the most basic unit that possesses sovereignty. In the past decades, however, substate and non-state actors have progressively gained more autonomy and legitimacy to engage in international activities, and Korean local governments have begun to affiliate themselves with various IGOs. I argue that Korean local governments join IGOs so as not to lag behind, even when they are not fully capable to join ‘glocalization,’ a combined force of localism and globalization. Event history analysis shows empirical support for this claim. A local government’s IGO memberships are likely to increase when other local governments join IGOs, especially when its peers/neighbors increasingly pursue inward and outward internationalization. Local pressures coming from peers/neighbors shape local governments’ responses to globalization. By investigating determinants of IGO memberships, this study sheds light upon motivational factors for local governments to adapt to a globalizing society.