This is a historically founded, empirical study of social and economic transformation wrought by 'marketisation from below' in North Korea.

Hazel Smith is Director of the International Institute of Korean Studies at the University of Central Lancashire.

Introduction: North Korea: politics, economy and society; Part I. Jettisoning Caricatures: Understanding History: 1. Beyond the clichés; 2. National identity; Part II. The Rise and Fall of Kim Il Sungism: 3. Colonial occupation and the rise of Kim Il Sung; 4. War-fighting as state-building; 5. 'Socialism in our own style'; 6. Sisyphus as economic model; 7. Social stratification in the workers' state; 8. Famine and the end of Kim Il Sungism; Part III. Marketisation and Military Rule: 9. Marketisation from below; 10. Military rule from above; 11. The marketisation of well-being; 12. The marketisation of the social structure; 13. Going nuclear; 14. Strategic paralysis; 15. North Koreans as agents of change; Bibliography; Index.