Between Nation and the State: The Formation of the Populistic Vertical Antagonism in South Korea by Colonial Legacies and Anti-Communism

Abstract

This study argues the discrepancy between the spatial and temporal imaginations in South Korea and North Korea since nation-building yields populistic political antagonism as vertical, especially in South Korea. In this vein, this study first discusses the implantation of the word ‘people’ and other competitive terms like ‘nationals’ and ‘nation’ during and after the colonial rule. After that, the time-space of independence will be discussed based on how the political associations were formed during the military rule by the US Army. Lastly, the study concludes that the absence of horizontal political cleavage under the electoral democracy in South Korea had been due to colonial legacies and strong anti-communism, which is even relevant to the recent political history in Korea.