Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

1-1998

Abstract

The Korea Journal’s series of articles addressing the question of civil society are a timely addition to the struggle over the discourse of democracy which is common to many countries in Pacific Asia. Since Professor Han Sang-Jin’s article does an excellent job of critically summarizing Chung Chulhee, Cho Hein and David Steinberg’s arti cles on Korean civil society, it seems that there is not much more to be said on the topic. To add to this discussion I will try to expand the discourse geographically and conceptually. Geographically, I will compare the discourse of popular politics in Korea with that in China. Conceptually, I will examine how the debate has been framed in terms of certain binary oppositions—civil society/state, East/West— and argue that such an Aristotelian ordering of the discourse misses out on the multiple and ironic identities and institutions that operate in Korea. My argument is that the search for civil society in Korea, like in China, is often misplaced. The question is not so much whether or not there is an authentic civil society in South Korea, but how different groups are using this concept of civil society in very political ways. I will argue further that though civil society is often assumed to be progressive and democratic, it is often used by elites as a way of controlling democratic movements, and limiting democratization to familiar procedural forms of electoralism rather than economic or social democracy. I will cite examples in Korea and China to evidence this conservative notion of civil society.

Discipline

Asian Studies | Political Science

Research Areas

Political Science

Publication

Korea Journal

Volume

38

Issue

1

First Page

277

Last Page

322

ISSN

0023-3900

Publisher

Academy of Korean Studies

Embargo Period

3-11-2026

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