Post-democracy and Political Space: Lessons from the Korean Experience

This chapter explores the traction that contemporary literatures on political space and postdemocracy might provide for understanding the ongoing challenges of democratization in East Asia. The merits of an egalitarian concept of political space are emphasized, as is an understanding of the condition of postdemocracy that emphasizes the willful attempt to contain egalitarian demands. Focusing on the Korean experience, but drawing on regional comparisons from East and Southeast Asia, the chapter shows how the survival of Cold War geopolitical imaginaries, the role of neoliberal restructuring in constraining the ambitions of labor and democracy movements, and the persistence of juridical forms of repression associated with authoritarian politics have provided able fuel for the fire of a resilient postdemocratic politics.