Erin Douglas

Andrew W. Mellon Undergraduate Fellow in the Humanities

20032004 Forum on Belief

Erin Douglas

Political Science

College '04

Good versus Evil in U.S.-North Korean Relations

Ever since the Cold War era, relations between the U.S. and North Korea have been largely determined by ideological belief rather than informed knowledge; a mutually-inspired and categorical mistrust between these respectively capitalist and communist countries has tended to predominate in the landscape of their political interactions. Using psychology's theory of fundamental attribution error as a means of comprehending this hostile deadlock, Douglas asks whether a more profound understanding of North Korea's viewpoint might change the simplistic, good-versus-evil terms in which Washington seems to base its decision-making. With an end to explaining North Korea's current stance against nuclear nonproliferation, Douglas will investigate where North Korea "sits" in order to elucidate where it "stands."