Description
Book SynopsisThis important new book identifies the distinctive characteristics of the ideological terrain in contemporary (South) Korean politics and reexamines the political thought of Park Chung-hee (1917–1979), the most revered, albeit the most controversial, former president in the history of South Korea, in light of those characteristics. Jung In Kang articulates “simultaneity of the nonsimultaneous” and the “sanctification of nationalism” as the most preeminent characteristics of the Korean ideological topography, which are distinct from those of modern Western Europe, while acknowledging the overwhelming and informing influence of modern Western civilization in shaping contemporary Korean politics and ideologies. He goes on to analyze the political thought of Park Chung-hee, in this way investigating and confirming the academic validity and relevance of those ideological characteristics in more specific terms. The book assesses how nonsimultaneity and sanctification are interwoven with Park’s thought, while reconstructing the political thought of President Park in terms of four modern ideologies: liberalism (liberal democracy), conservatism, nationalism and radicalism. Kang concludes by tracing the changes undergone by simultaneity and sanctification in the three decades since democratization, with some speculation on their future, and by examining the ideological legacy and ramifications of Park Chung-hee’s authoritarian politics in the twenty-first century.
Trade ReviewThis book is an important contribution to the fortunes of global democratization. Focusing on developments in South Korea during the past seven decades, Kang shows how Korean politics has followed and not followed the dominant Western ideologies of liberalism, conservatism, nationalism, and radicalism.The divergence has to do with the difference between early-comers and late-comers to democracy, that is, with a certain "nonsimultaneity" between Western and non-Western history. Given geopolitical asymmetries, the divergence also puts a certain premium on nationalism and national security, thus showing the crucial embeddedness of democratization in cultural-political contexts. -- Fred Dallmayr, author of Being in the World: Dialogue and Cosmopolis (2013)
Table of ContentsNotes on Names and Asian Characters / Preface / Acknowledgments / Introduction: Contemporary Korean Political Thought and Park Chung-hee / Part 1: Trends and Characteristics of Contemporary Korean Political Thought / 1. The Dynamic Evolution of Contemporary Korean Political Thought: An Overview / 2. The Dialectic of Nonsimultaneity / 3. The Sanctification of Nationalism / Part II: The Political Thought of Park Chung-hee / 4. Park Chung-hee's Discourses on Democracy / 5. Park Chung-hee's Antiliberal Conservatism for Modernization / 6. Park Chung-hee's Discourses on Nationalism / Part III: Contemporary Korean Political Thought since Democratization / 7. Conclusion: Trends in Korean Political Ideology since Democratization / Bibliography / Index
