Seeds of mobilization : the authoritarian roots of South Korea's democracy / Joan E. Cho.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cho, Joan E., author.

Series:

Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies series.

Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Democracy--Korea (South).

Democracy.

Authoritarianism--Korea (South).

Authoritarianism.

Korea (South)--Politics and government--1960-1988.

Korea (South).

Korea (South)--Politics and government--1988-2002.

Korea (South)--Politics and government--2002-.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxi, 240 pages) : illustrations.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Ann Arbor, Michigan : University of Michigan Press, 2024.

Summary:

South Korea is sometimes held as a dream case of modernization theory, a testament to how economic development leads to democracy. Seeds of Mobilization takes a closer look at the history of South Korea to show that Korea's advance to democracy was not linear. Instead, while Korea's national economy grew dramatically under the regimes of Park Chung Hee (1961-79) and Chun Doo Hwan (1980-88), the political system first became increasingly authoritarian. Because modernization was founded on industrial complexes and tertiary education, these structures initially helped bolster the authoritarian regimes. In the long run, however, these structures later facilitated the anti-regime protests by various social movement groups--most importantly, workers and students--that ultimately brought democracy to the country. By using original subnational protest event datasets, government publications, oral interviews, and publications from labor and student movement organizations, Joan E. Cho takes a long view of democratization that incorporates the decades before and after South Korea's democratic transition. She demonstrates that Korea's democratization resulted from a combination of factors from below and from above, and that authoritarian development itself was a hidden root cause of democratic development in South Korea. Seeds of Mobilization shows how socioeconomic development did not create a steady pressure toward democracy but acted as a "double-edged sword" that initially stabilized autocratic regimes before destabilizing them over time.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

List of Figures

List of Tables

Abbreviations

A Note on Romanization

Acknowledgments

One. Introduction: Reexamining South Korea's Democratization

Two. Industrialization as a (De)stabilizing Force

Three. Manufacturing Protests: Ecology of Industrial Complexes and the Labor Movement

Four. Learning to Dissent: Education and Authoritarian Resilience

Five. From College Campuses to Ballot Boxes: Mobilizing for Democratic Reforms

Six. Beyond the Democratic Transition: Democratization and Generational Divides

Seven. Conclusion: Development, Democracy, and Authoritarian Legacy

Appendix: Datasets and Data Sources

Notes

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Title from eBook information screen..

Includes bibliographical references (pages 215-240) and index.

Description based on information from the publisher.

ISBN:

9780472904037

OCLC:

1390715120