Civic Activism in South Korea: The Intertwining of Democracy and Neoliberalism

Author:   Seungsook Moon
Publisher:   Columbia University Press
ISBN:  

9780231211482


Pages:   320
Publication Date:   16 July 2024
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   Manufactured on demand   Availability explained
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Civic Activism in South Korea: The Intertwining of Democracy and Neoliberalism


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Overview

In recent decades, neoliberalism has transformed South Korean society, going far beyond simply restructuring the economy. In response, a number of civic organizations that emerged from the democratization movement with a conscious emphasis on social change have sought to address socioeconomic and political problems caused or aggravated by the neoliberal transformation. Examining how ""citizens' organizations"" in South Korea negotiate with the market and neoliberal governance, Seungsook Moon offers new ways to understand the intricate relationship between democracy and neoliberalism as modes of ruling. She provides in-depth qualitative studies of three different types of organizations: a large national advocacy organization run by professional staff activists, two medium-size local branches of a national feminist organization run by mostly volunteer activists, and a small local organization run by volunteer activists with a focus on foreign migrants. Bringing together these rich empirical cases with deft theoretical analysis, Moon argues that neoliberalism and democracy are entwined in complex ways. Although neoliberalism undermines democratic practices of social equality by shrinking or destroying public resources, institutions, and space, it also can facilitate participatory practices that arise to fill needs left by privatization and deregulation as long as those practices do not seriously challenge the workings of capitalism. Showing how neoliberalism simultaneously enables and constrains civic activism, this book illuminates the contradictions of social engagement today, with global implications.

Full Product Details

Author:   Seungsook Moon
Publisher:   Columbia University Press
Imprint:   Columbia University Press
ISBN:  

9780231211482


ISBN 10:   0231211481
Pages:   320
Publication Date:   16 July 2024
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand   Availability explained
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

Romanization of Korean Words Acknowledgments Introduction: Democracy and Neoliberalism Examined Through a Lens of Civic Activism 1. The Development of “Citizens’ Organizations” in South Korea 2. Profiles of Three Citizens’ Organizations 3. Negotiating with the Market in Neoliberal South Korea 4. Neoliberal Governance I: Collaborative Law and Policymaking and Undermining Grassroots Participation 5. Neoliberal Governance II: Grassroots Participation Through Private-Public Partnership and Undermining Civic Autonomy 6. Refusing Neoliberal Governance and Pursuing Prefigurative Activism Conclusion: Reflecting on the Intertwining of Democracy and Neoliberalism Notes Bibliography Korean Primary Sources Index

Reviews

From the vantage point of civic activism, Seungsook Moon casts a bracing look at South Korean democracy and neoliberalism. Analytically acute and deftly presented, Civic Activism in South Korea is not only a challenging analysis of the country but also an important statement about the wider world. -- John Lie, author of <i>Han Unbound: The Political Economy of South Korea</i>


From the vantage point of civic activism, Seungsook Moon casts a bracing look at South Korean democracy and neoliberalism. Analytically acute and deftly presented, Civic Activism in South Korea is not only a challenging analysis of the country but also an important statement about the wider world. -- John Lie, author of <i>Han Unbound: The Political Economy of South Korea</i> Moon's book offers a timely and valuable account of civic activism's adaptive evolution in neoliberal South Korea. It lucidly explains how neoliberal transformations have activated, restructured and constrained the democratic social contributions of active citizens' organiztions. -- Chang Kyung-Sup, author of <i>The Logic of Compressed Modernity</i>, Seoul National University


Author Information

Seungsook Moon is professor of sociology at Vassar College. She is the author of Militarized Modernity and Gendered Citizenship in South Korea (2005) and a coeditor of and contributor to Over There: Living with the U.S. Military Empire from World War II to the Present (2010).

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