Economic development, democracy and citizenship politics in South Korea: the predicament of developmental citizenship

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to analyze the complex relationships among economic development, democracy, and citizenship as they have been manifested in the South Korean context since the late 1980s. It begins by examining the structural relationship between economic development and political democratization in South Korea with an analytical focus on the substantive function of democratic politics in delivering various citizenship rights. Then, the citizenship ramifications of the national economic crisis of 1997–1998 are discussed with a particular focus on the predominant bijeonggyujik (nonregular position) regime of employment. This is followed by an account of the divergence between international and domestic perceptions on the current status of South Koreans' citizenship rights and a discussion of the political historical background to South Koreans' regression to developmentalism. Relatedly, the widespread symptoms of South Koreans' withdrawal from economic, familial, and even personal life are illustrated as evidence of the critically limited viability of the developmentally framed citizenship to which South Koreans habitually cling even in the neoliberal era.