Authoritarian Legacies, Citizens, and Protest: Lessons from the Taegeukgi Rally in South Korea

Supporters of South Korean authoritarian successor party have organized a movement called the Taegeukgi Rally. This movement started in late 2016 to oppose the impeachment of then President, Park Geun-hye. Then, the movement transformed into anti-government protest after the formation of the new administration by President Moon Jae-in. This movement is puzzling in many ways and the literature on mass mobilization does not provide a good explanation about the movement's timing, demographic composition, and protest agendas. This study suggested an alternative explanation to understand the mobilization. By conducting in-depth interviews with 25 rally participants, this study found that the collective identity of participants that was shaped in the authoritarian period motivates certain individuals to participate in the rally.  

 

Myunghee Lee is a visiting fellow at the University of Missouri and a non-resident research fellow at the Center for International Trade and Security at the University of Georgia. She earned her Ph.D in Political Science at the University of Missouri. She is the recipient of the 2020 David M. Wood Excellence in Political Science Research Award. Her research focuses on protest, democratization, and state violence. Her research appears in International Security and Politics & Gender.  

 

Join Zoom Meeting  https://utoronto.zoom.us/j/81616949449     

Meeting ID: 816 1694 9449  

Passcode: 030791