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Democratization and Social Movements in South Korea: A Civil Society Perspective*

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East Asian Social Movements

Part of the book series: Nonprofit and Civil Society Studies ((NCSS))

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Abstract

The year of 2007 marked the 20th anniversary of South Korea’s democratic transition. Over the past two decades, South Korean politics has witnessed crucial changes. South Korea suffered from two military coups, one in 1961 and the other in 1979–1980, which temporarily halted the transition to democracy. In democratized South Korea today, military coups are unthinkable, and elections have become free, fair, and clean. Civilian control of the military is considered integral to the survival and prosperity of a democracy (Schmitter and Karl 1991). This transition has enabled the elections of Kim Dae Jung, a former political prisoner sentenced to death, and Roh Moo Hyun, a former labor rights lawyer devoted to pro-democracy movement, to South Korean presidency.

*Parts of this chapter are drawn from chapter 2 and chapter 6 of kim (2000a).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Administration, Korea University, Seoul, Korea

    Sunhyuk Kim

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  1. Sunhyuk Kim
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Correspondence to Sunhyuk Kim .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Sociology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, 55455, Minnesota, USA

    Jeffrey Broadbent

  2. Sociology Program, Southwest Minnesota State University, State St. 1501, Marshall, 56258, Minnesota, USA

    Vicky Brockman

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Kim, S. (2011). Democratization and Social Movements in South Korea: A Civil Society Perspective*. In: Broadbent, J., Brockman, V. (eds) East Asian Social Movements. Nonprofit and Civil Society Studies. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09626-1_7

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