Enacting Responsible Transnational Relations? Thinking with the South Korean Civil Society Movement Against Large Dams in the Mekong Basin

Purpose: This paper examines the emergence, positioning, and influence of the South Korean Civil Society Task Force Team (the task force) which was formed in response to the Xe Pian-Xe Namnoy Dam collapse in Laos, shortly after the tragic incident in July 2018. Originality: This paper analyses the transnational and local dimensions of the task force’s advocacy work through the lens of spatial responsibility, raising key questions about the origins, scope, and impact of non-Western transnational social movements amid growing socio-economic ties across Asia. Methodology: Through analyses of relevant documents and key informant interviews, we examine the socio-political conditions that enabled and constrained the task force's advocacy work. We also discuss the implications of their efforts on policy changes they sought domestically in South Korea and hydropower governance in the Mekong region. Result: Our findings indicate that two key constraints ― the dominance of state and private actors in Mekong hydropower governance and South Korea's developmentalist approach to transnational relations and responsibility ― undermined the task force’s influence both abroad and domestically. Conclusions and Implication: Nevertheless, the task force’s spatially expanded conception of responsibility provides a fertile ground for fostering meaningful transnational political engagement in Korea and beyond.