Book Review

Yoonkyung Lee

(University of Toronto, Canada)

  Korean society, whether viewed from the inside or the outside, is most noted for its socio-political dynamism. At the heart of this dynamism is a culture of protest and the potential energy of widespread social movements. December 2024, when this is review is being written, is a historic time that explicitly shows the dynamism of Korean politics and the role of protest movements in protecting Korea’s democracy.

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  In this book, Yoonkyung Lee approaches the question of how and in what roles social movements and party politics relate to the formation and development of Korean democracy from the perspective of political sociology. Put simply, the book asks how Korea’s democracy developed while civic groups organized resistance and alternatives in response to problems caused by the ruling powers or political party. To this end, Lee closely analyzed the characteristics and activities of three main political groups that pursued different methods to carry out their aims of enhancing Korean democracy after the 1987 democratic transition. These three groups include social movement organizations and social movement activists, the existing political parties (especially moderate parties along the lines of the Democratic Party) and the activist-turned-politicians who joined them, and the progressive parties and the activists and politicians who participated in them.

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  This research begins with the theoretical premise that politics operates via organizational strength, and political influence varies according to which power successfully forms an organizational infrastructure for mobilization. Based on this premise, Lee compares the three Korean political groups’ organizational characteristics and modes of praxis and analyzes their mutual relationships to answer the question of which group was able to articulate the diverse popular demands of the citizens and lead through powerful collective activity.

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  In conclusion, Lee finds that in the past three decades since democratization, Korea’s social movement organizations have been more successful than existing moderate/conservative parties or the newly formed progressive parties in creating infrastructures for national solidarity. Numerous highly educated experts and dedicated activists created and led civic associations, put forward the democratic agendas through policy alternatives, and mobilized solidarity networks that encompassed various regions and social classes. As experience in social movements accumulated over the decades, Korea’s citizens became participatory citizens. In other words, it was through direct resistance, such as rallies and protests, rather than through the systematic political process that they came to feel a sense of political efficacy as political agents. On the other hand, the moderate parties, represented by the Democratic Party, and its activist-turned-politicians, as well as the progressive activists who sought to bring together the public square and the assembly hall through the organization of progressive parties, both failed to grow into powers that could create a national solidarity or formulate national alternatives. Thus, the advancement and strengthening of Korea’s democracy cannot be understood without the key contributions made by social movements.

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  By researching in detail the process of Korea’s democracy, Lee criticizes the assumption of prior Western scholarship that situates party politics at the center of democratic politics and views civic associations as narrowly focused, transient organizations. The experience of Korean democracy suggests a new theory behind the formation and development of democratization by serving as a historical precedent in which democracy was advanced through social movements rather than party politics. Furthermore, whereas prior research on social movements characterized their nature as partial, peripheral, and temporary, Lee emphasizes how Korea’s social movements can be viewed as national, organizational, and constant.

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  President Yoon Suk Yeol’s imposition of emergency martial law on December 3, 2024, which undermined constitutional order, was likely carried out in ignorance of the influence wielded by Korea’s democratic citizens. In response, Korea’s citizens and civic groups once again took to the streets and squares, reaffirming their position as the true agents behind the creation and advancement of Korea’s democracy.