About the Author
Adam Cathcart
Adam Cathcart is a lecturer in history at the University of Leeds and the editor of Sino-NK.
More than ever since January 2017, "North Korea watchers" have been wrestling with a dilemma typical for analyzing autocracies: does one take a personalist interpretation of the DPRK’s diplomacy and statecraft, honing in on the methods, statements, visions, and quirks of the dictator?
Or, does one maintain a more systemic approach toward the state, and assume that institutions matter, may occasionally conflict, and even have a certain degree of agency?