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South Korea is best-known for its economic development, democratic transition and consolidation, vibrant civil society, and emergence as a cultural powerhouse. The Oxford Handbook of South Korean Politics presents and analyses contemporary South Korean politics, bringing together domestic political, economic, social cultural, and demographic developments and putting them in the context of trends in fellow developed countries. The Handbook is divided into seven sections: introduction; core concepts; institutions, parties, elections and voters; civil society; culture and media; public policy and policy-making; and the international arena. The overarching premise of the Handbook is that we have to move away from traditional understandings of South Korean politics that considered them to be static, focusing instead on how and why contemporary South Korea is a vibrant and dynamic democracy in which multiple groups and ideas are represented.

K9500.80 --- Korea: Politics -- history -- modern period, postwar period (1945- ) --- Korea (South) --- Politics and government.

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First Published in 2002

Democracy --- Democratization --- Democratic consolidation --- Democratic transition --- Political science --- New democracies --- Korea (South) --- Politics and government --- K9500.80 --- Korea: Politics -- history -- modern period, postwar period (1945- )

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Top-Down Democracy documents how free and fair elections in South Korea, a country widely heralded as a successful new democracy, have failed to force political parties to reorganize their elitist structures. This finding contradicts political scientists' expectation that free elections lead directly to mass mobilizing forms of politics which constrain elite power. Drawing on Korean-language sources, this study shows how party elites have built techniques for insulating themselves from electoral vulnerability. It takes the reader through South Korea's political development from 1945 through the demise of dictatorship in the 1980s and into the first two decades of democracy. This narrative shows that earlier patterns of creating political order generated long-term impediments to achieving highly competitive electoral politics. South Korea democratized, but it did not become the sort of democracy we usually imagine. The Korean story is important for anyone seeking to understand democratization and democracy promotion around the world. Scholarship and public discussion on democratization place excessive emphasis on the establishment of democratic institutions. How those institutions operate can vary tremendously and can contain deep imprints of earlier political patterns, even when the institutions meet the standard criteria for a democracy. The themes in this book are important and timely in a world where democratic institutions are celebrated and widely promoted but their consequences are inadequately understood. Top-Down Democracy will appeal to readers interested in modern Korean and East Asian history, political science, and democratization.

Democracy --- Democratization --- Political parties --- Democratic consolidation --- Democratic transition --- Political science --- New democracies --- Korea (South) --- Politics and government. --- K9500.80 --- Korea: Politics -- history -- modern period, postwar period (1945- ) --- Political systems --- South Korea

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Democracy --- -Democratization --- -K9500.80 --- K9300.80 --- Democratic consolidation --- Democratic transition --- Political science --- New democracies --- Self-government --- Equality --- Representative government and representation --- Republics --- Korea: Politics -- history -- modern period, postwar period (1945- ) --- Korea: Social sciences -- social and cultural history -- modern period, postwar period (1945- ) --- Korea (South) --- -Politics and government --- -Democracy --- Democratization --- Politics and government --- K9500.80 --- Democracy - Korea (South) --- Democratization - Korea (South) --- Korea (South) - Politics and government - 1988-2002

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A study that demonstrates how crucial civil society has been to democratic transition, democratic failure, and the recent, ongoing efforts to reform, deepen, and consolidate democracy in Korea.

Civics, Korean --- Democratization --- K9300.80 --- K9500.80 --- Democratic consolidation --- Democratic transition --- Political science --- New democracies --- Korean civics --- Korea: Social sciences -- social and cultural history -- modern period, postwar period (1945- ) --- Korea: Politics -- history -- modern period, postwar period (1945- ) --- Korea (South) --- Politics and government. --- Civics, Korean.