South Korea's Democracy in Crisis

<p>Like in many other states worldwide democracy is in trouble in South Korea entering a state of regressionin the past decade barely thirty years after its emergence in 1987. The society that had ordinary citizensleading candlelight protests demanding the impeachment of Park Geun-Hye in 2016-17 has becomepolarized amid an upsurge of populism driven by persistent structural inequalities globalization and therise of the information society.</p><p>The symptoms of democratic decline have been increasingly hard to miss: the demonization of politicalopponents erosion of democratic norms and the whittling away of the courts' independence. Perhapsmost disturbing is that this all took place under a government dominated by former pro-democracyactivists. Will the election victory of opposition leader Yoon Suk-Yeol end this democratic erosion or willthe rift between South Korea's progressives and conservatives only deepen with the next administration?</p><p>The contributors to this volume trace the sources of illiberalism in today's Korea; examine how politicalpolarization is plaguing its party system; discuss how civil society and the courts have become politicized;look at the roles of inequality education and social media in the country's democratic decline; andconsider how illiberalism has affected Korea's foreign policy.</p>