Suchergebnisse

This study examines the demographic and discursive challenges taking place against Koreans' long-held ethno-nationalism. While Koreans have formed their national identity based on the notion of ethnic homogeneity, an increasing influx of migrant workers and foreign brides is dramatically transforming the demographic landscape of South Korean society. This article presents the empirical realities of recent demographic changes within the South Korean population and identifies three mechanisms that have raised critical voices against the essentialist and exclusivist tendency found within Korean nationalism: protests by migrant workers, advocacy and support from social movement organizations, and discursive criticisms from academia and mass media. All these have contributed to the loosening of Korean ethnocentrism - a trend evident in recent survey data on Koreans' national identity. This article underscores that the real contradiction lies between Koreans' attachment to the nationalist identity that undergirded their political survival and economic success during the nation's turbulent modern decades and the present realities of a multi-ethnicizing population that demands pluralist and fluid understandings of social membership and collective identity. (Crit Asian Stud/GIGA)

Streets in Korea rarely go quiet without first having a public demonstration, and Korean citizens are known as seasoned protestors, charting the course of national politics. Between the Streets and the Assembly explores how protest movements have become the prominent mode of democratic politics in Korea, in contrast to political parties in the National Assembly that have lagged behind in partisan representation and accountability. To unpack this political dynamic, this book closely follows three groups of democracy activists who were born in their resistance to military dictatorships but who pursued different methods of democratic representation in postauthoritarian Korea (1987-2020). One group stayed in civil society and organized powerful protests outside formal institutions; another group chose to join existing parties with the aim of reforming legislative politics; and the third group was devoted to forming separate progressive parties to be the agent of transformative agenda. By analyzing the interactive evolution of these three modes of democratic representation, Yoonkyung Lee finds that social movement organizations have been more effective than activist-turned politicians in centrist or progressive parties in creating coordination infrastructures for collective action. Through the practice of organizing national solidarity networks, innovating the methods of mass street demonstrations, and drawing professional expertise to formulate policy alternatives, Korean civic groups have built the capacity to directly shape and alter the course of national politics, unlike activist-turned politicians who remained divided with no common political programs.This study asserts that social movement organizations and political parties develop variable capacities for democratic representation, depending on coevolutionary interactions with each other. The experience of Korean democracy shows social movement groups can be a powerful agent of national politics against the scholarly assumption that views civic associations as narrowly focused, transient organizations. Between the Streets and the Assembly suggests a different possibility of political process, one in which civic groups and participatory citizens, not political parties, are the primary drivers of democratic politics

Waves of Protest Movements and Political Parties in Flux: Empirical Reality and Proposed Explanation -- Political Parties and Civil Society under Authoritarian Regimes -- In the Streets: Democratic Transition, Social Movement Organizations, and National Solidarity Infrastructure -- From the Streets to the National Assembly: Activists Turned Politicians in Centrist Political Parties -- Between the Streets and the National Assembly: Activists-cum-Politicians in the Progressive Parties

Streets in Korea rarely go quiet without first having a public demonstration and Korean citizens are known as seasoned protestors, charting the course of national politics. Between the Streets and the Assembly explores how protest movements have become the prominent mode of democratic politics in Korea, in contrast to political parties in the National Assembly that have lagged behind in partisan representation and accountability. To unpack this political dynamic, this book closely follows three groups of democracy activists who were born in their resistance to military dictatorships but who pursued different methods of democratic representation in postauthoritarian Korea (1987–2020). One group stayed in civil society and organized powerful protests outside formal institutions; another group chose to join existing parties with the aim of reforming legislative politics; and the third group was devoted to forming separate progressive parties to be the agent of transformative agenda. By analyzing the interactive evolution of these three modes of democratic representation, Yoonkyung Lee finds that social movement organizations have been more effective than activist-turned politicians in centrist or progressive parties in creating coordination infrastructures for collective action. Through the practice of organizing national solidarity networks, innovating the methods of mass street demonstrations, and drawing professional expertise to formulate policy alternatives, Korean civic groups have built the capacity to directly shape and alter the course of national politics, unlike activist-turned politicians who remained divided with no common political programs.This study asserts that social movement organizations and political parties develop variable capacities for democratic representation, depending on coevolutionary interactions with each other. The experience of Korean democracy shows social movement groups can be a powerful agent of national politics against the scholarly assumption that views civic associations as narrowly focused, transient organizations. Between the Streets and the Assembly suggests a different possibility of political process, one in which civic groups and participatory citizens, not political parties, are the primary drivers of democratic politics

Waves of protest movements and political parties in flux: Empirical reality and proposed explanation -- Political parties and civil society under authoritarian regimes -- In the streets: Democratic transition, social movement organizations, and national solidarity infrastructure -- From the streets to the national assembly: Activists turned politicians in centrist political parties -- Between the streets and the national assembly: Activists-cum-politicians in the progressive parties.

Intro -- Half-Title Page -- Title Page -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations -- Notes on Romanization, Translation, Korean Names, and Interviewees -- Introduction -- CHAPTER 1: Waves of Protest Movements and Political Parties in Flux: Empirical Reality and Proposed Explanation -- CHAPTER 2: Political Parties and Civil Society under Authoritarian Regimes -- CHAPTER 3: In the Streets: Democratic Transition, Social Movement Organizations, and National Solidarity Infrastructure -- CHAPTER 4: From the Streets to the National Assembly: Activists Turned Politicians in Centrist Political Parties -- CHAPTER 5: Between the Streets and the National Assembly: Activists-cum-Politicians in the Progressive Parties -- Conclusion -- Appendixes -- References -- Index -- About the Author -- Hawai'i Studies on Korea.

Streets in Korea rarely go quiet without first having a public demonstration and Korean citizens are known as seasoned protestors, charting the course of national politics. Between the Streets and the Assembly explores how protest movements have become the prominent mode of democratic politics in Korea, in contrast to political parties in the National Assembly that have lagged behind in partisan representation and accountability. To unpack this political dynamic, this book closely follows three groups of democracy activists who were born in their resistance to military dictatorships but who pursued different methods of democratic representation in postauthoritarian Korea (1987-2020). One group stayed in civil society and organized powerful protests outside formal institutions; another group chose to join existing parties with the aim of reforming legislative politics; and the third group was devoted to forming separate progressive parties to be the agent of transformative agenda. By analyzing the interactive evolution of these three modes of democratic representation, Yoonkyung Lee finds that social movement organizations have been more effective than activist-turned politicians in centrist or progressive parties in creating coordination infrastructures for collective action. Through the practice of organizing national solidarity networks, innovating the methods of mass street demonstrations, and drawing professional expertise to formulate policy alternatives, Korean civic groups have built the capacity to directly shape and alter the course of national politics, unlike activist-turned politicians who remained divided with no common political programs.This study asserts that social movement organizations and political parties develop variable capacities for democratic representation, depending on coevolutionary interactions with each other. The experience of Korean democracy shows social movement groups can be a powerful agent of national politics against the scholarly assumption that views civic associations as narrowly focused, transient organizations. Between the Streets and the Assembly suggests a different possibility of political process, one in which civic groups and participatory citizens, not political parties, are the primary drivers of democratic politics.

Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations -- Notes on Names and References -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Labor Politics -- 3. Authoritarian Legacies and Democratic Coalitions in Korea and Taiwan -- 4. Labor Unions and Political Parties in Democratized Korea and Taiwan -- 5. Labor-Reform Politics in Democratized Korea and Taiwan -- 6. Conclusion -- Appendix A. Interviews and Participatory Observations -- Appendix B. National Legislators' Career Background (NLCB) Data -- Notes -- References -- Index

This study examines the mobilization of the Far Right in Korea and Japan in the 2000s and probes how and why the actors and political claims of East Asian extremists differ from their counterparts in Europe and North America. The Far Right forces in Korea and Japan are politically regressive in glorifying the authoritarian or colonial past and cling to unchanging ideological claims from the postwar decades in their current targeting of old-time, internal "others." This divergence is explained by the United States–led Cold War geopolitics in Asia, under which Far Right elites were fortified in postwar Japan and Korea. The Cold War that has not ended in Asia as opposed to Europe or North America further allows the institutional sustainability of the radical Right and the political resonance of its old ideology of anticommunism and colonial racism. As such, democratic politics in East Asia is predicated on Cold War undercurrents.

This essay introduces four articles that form a special issue of Politics & Society titled "Right-Wing Activism in Asia: Cold War Legacies, Geopolitics, and Democratic Erosion." The articles focus on Japan, South Korea, and Thailand. These three Asian countries present important cases to generate critical comparative insights about the patterns of Far Right mobilization, for their geopolitical histories provide common ground while institutional variations set distinctive conditions. Most importantly, all of them were shaped by the particularly sharp conflicts of the Cold War in the region, and the articles in this issue demonstrate how this legacy has generated illiberal conditions in these countries today.