Dr Doucette will introduce his recently published book on the politics and political economy of contemporary South Korea – a book that is even more topical in the current political crisis the country is facing.
This book is a major contribution to both Korean and East Asian Political Economy across a number of different disciplines. It offers a close reading of the dilemmas involved in the post-Candlelight Revolution economic reforms undertaken by the Moon government in South Korea. As such, it is an important work for the general Korean Studies audience interested in contemporary Korean politics and economy. But it also includes a focus on institutions and the structural dimensions of inequality and financial restructuring that give it appeal to a much wider readership interested in questions of democracy and economy in the 21st century.
The monograph issues a challenge to development studies, political sociology, and comparative politics, among others, by calling for a substantial revision of how the state is understood in order to make room for pro-democratic and progressive actors. The author persuasively argues that much of the celebratory praise of Korea’s rapid development, found even in academic works, suffers from a severe ‘democratic deficit’, by completely ignoring the projects of transformation led by progressive actors.
This book successfully redresses that democratic deficit in its sharp analysis of South Korea’s contemporary political economy and the actors involved in shaping it.