MOVING TOWARD DEMOCRACY? SOUTH KOREAN POLITICAL CHANGE IN THE 1980s.

The 1980s were widely heralded as a decade of democratization throughout the world. Scholarly arguments about the affinity between "bureaucratic-authoritarian regimes" and rapid economic development gave way to analysis of the "transitions to democracy." This paper examines the movement toward political liberalization in South Korea during this past decade. It begins by examining how the Republic of Korea's (ROK) pattern of "dependent development" and semiperipheral status in the world constrains its internal politics and class structures. Understanding the international political-economic context also illuminates the structural openings that can be used by the proponents of democracy. The main focus of this paper is on the societal forces within South Korea that affect its politics. The key role of the ROK state in directing the "economic miracle," and the relationship that developed among the state, capital and labor during the past 30 years, is highlighted. We isolate crucial collective political actors--industrial workers, students and intellectuals, business groups, technocrats, the military, the urban semiproletariat--and discuss their current and/or potential role in the struggle for democratization. The conclusion traces political changes through mid-1989, emphasizing the incomplete nature of the accomplished reforms and the potential complications that the reunification issue raises for further democratization. We conclude that the political reform movement faces a number of structural constraints generated by issues of international competitiveness and the configuration of interests in the domestic political economy. This suggests that, at best, South Korea is likely to end up with a "restricted" or "controlled" form of democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]