A Link to the Authoritarian Past? Older Voters as a Force in the 2012 South Korean Presidential Election
(2014) In Taiwan Journal of Democracy 10(2).- Abstract
- South Korea's democratization appeared to mean the demise of a harsh political style that was dominant during the country's rapid industrialization. The 2012 presidential election placed in power a leader who deliberately invoked the style and policies of that predemocratic period. The election saw a sharp divide between voters aged fifty and over, who overwhelmingly supported the winning candidate Park Geun-hye, and those under fifty. This result is surprising: Koreans in their fifties and sixties had demonstrated against the heavy-handed measures of Park's father, Park Chung Hee, whom the candidate repeatedly invoked in her campaigning. How could people who had struggled against dictatorship and later won turn to a symbol of that... (More)
- South Korea's democratization appeared to mean the demise of a harsh political style that was dominant during the country's rapid industrialization. The 2012 presidential election placed in power a leader who deliberately invoked the style and policies of that predemocratic period. The election saw a sharp divide between voters aged fifty and over, who overwhelmingly supported the winning candidate Park Geun-hye, and those under fifty. This result is surprising: Koreans in their fifties and sixties had demonstrated against the heavy-handed measures of Park's father, Park Chung Hee, whom the candidate repeatedly invoked in her campaigning. How could people who had struggled against dictatorship and later won turn to a symbol of that nondemocratic period for leadership? The essay argues that a reinterpretation of the authoritarian period and nostalgia for policies of that time among an increasingly large population aged fifty and older played a role in the creation of a key support base for Park. Against the background of an aging population, the reinterpretation of Park Chung Hee helped to generate an electoral victory for his daughter. The policies and politics that drove South Korea's economic rise not only are important to understanding the past but also their memory continues to challenge the country's new democratic values. (Less)
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- author
- Kim, Hyejin LU
- publishing date
- 2014-12-01
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Taiwan Journal of Democracy
- volume
- 10
- issue
- 2
- ISSN
- 1815-7238
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- 9b049aff-79c3-4c48-ad36-fd7a1272f409
- date added to LUP
- 2024-12-10 10:16:38
- date last changed
- 2025-04-04 15:24:23
@article{9b049aff-79c3-4c48-ad36-fd7a1272f409,
abstract = {{South Korea's democratization appeared to mean the demise of a harsh political style that was dominant during the country's rapid industrialization. The 2012 presidential election placed in power a leader who deliberately invoked the style and policies of that predemocratic period. The election saw a sharp divide between voters aged fifty and over, who overwhelmingly supported the winning candidate Park Geun-hye, and those under fifty. This result is surprising: Koreans in their fifties and sixties had demonstrated against the heavy-handed measures of Park's father, Park Chung Hee, whom the candidate repeatedly invoked in her campaigning. How could people who had struggled against dictatorship and later won turn to a symbol of that nondemocratic period for leadership? The essay argues that a reinterpretation of the authoritarian period and nostalgia for policies of that time among an increasingly large population aged fifty and older played a role in the creation of a key support base for Park. Against the background of an aging population, the reinterpretation of Park Chung Hee helped to generate an electoral victory for his daughter. The policies and politics that drove South Korea's economic rise not only are important to understanding the past but also their memory continues to challenge the country's new democratic values.}},
author = {{Kim, Hyejin}},
issn = {{1815-7238}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{12}},
number = {{2}},
series = {{Taiwan Journal of Democracy}},
title = {{A Link to the Authoritarian Past? Older Voters as a Force in the 2012 South Korean Presidential Election}},
volume = {{10}},
year = {{2014}},
}