This lecture is presented as part of the Winter 2026 Course on Asian Community: Border-Crossing Diasporic Formation, and Social Transformation in the Asian World, in conjunction with the UCLA Asia Pacific Center and made possible with generous support from the Eurasia Foundation (From Asia).

Migration is a common response to economic crisis. Not only by individuals, who can choose to seek opportunities abroad, but also by states, which sometimes induce those individual choices by adopting policies that facilitate and promote migration. What does it mean for a country when this happens? What impact, if any, does migration have on the originating crisis? And what happens when the crisis ends? Temporary Measures examines these questions through the experiences of South Korea and the Philippines, two countries where labor export was pursued as a path out of chronic underdevelopment and economic crises. In South Korea, labor export became a crucial link in an export-led industrialization push that not only stabilized but so transformed the Korean economy that within two decades, the country became a net importer of migrant labor. The Philippines also experienced an economic transformation as a result of labor export, but in a way that generated a dependence on migration and migrant remittances. This book, by tracing the history of these two countries' labor export programs, offers explanations for why and how they diverged so dramatically. It describes the multiple pathways through which migration can serve national development projects and the conditions under which different models succeed or fail.

Suzy K. Lee is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Development at Binghamton University. Suzy Lee is a sociologist and legal scholar whose work focuses on international labor migration, the transformations in migration law and policy in the neoliberal era, and the implication of migration policy for the protection of migrants’ rights. Lee's primary line of research examines the development of sending state policy regimes, with a focus on contract migration programs in the Philippines and South Korea. Other projects include studies on the effect of neoliberal economic policy on migration regimes, immigration policy and human trafficking, and the formation of political identity in deindustrialized and rural regions of the U.S. Lee is also the program director for Binghamton University's MS in Human Rights program, and teaches a range of undergraduate and graduate courses on political economy, human rights, and international migration.

Asia Pacific Center asia@international.ucla.edu

Sponsor(s): Asia Pacific Center