Knowledge Transfer as Intercultural Translation in the German-Korean Context - Facing Possible Future Challenges within the Triangle of Unification, System Transformation and Societal Integration

Abstract

It is evident that Korea and Germany are embedded in different cultural traditions and are part of different scenarios of international politics. Acting on this general assumption, a coincidence of national unification and abrupt system change similar to the German process of transition does not seem likely. At most a policy of small steps may be an alternative. This is the reason why South Korean project partners are also interested in the antecedent times of two divided German states. From a theoretical perspective, the attempt of transferring the knowledge of unification to Korea requires a new contextualization of knowledge. This act can be understood as a process of transcoding. Having the practical expectations of Korean project partners in mind, a set of “manuals” has been worked out for seven domains of transfer. Additionally, a simulation game has been created and already tested. The written manuals may be useful to promote at least incremental steps towards a controlled institutional change of a dictatorial regime.