Limitations of the so-called "87 regime" in South Korea

Professor Jin-Ho Jang, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology

The so-called ‘87 Regime’ in South Korea refers to the historical period and regime of democratic transition and consolidation, combined with the change of the constitution in 1987 after the Korean people’s June Democracy Movement against the new military regime. The ‘87 regime,’ however, has shown three weaknesses so far: the absence of progressive socio-economic alternatives; limitations of the democracy paradigm itself; and the lasting negative effects of the ‘national-division system’. The overcoming of these weaknesses will lead to a new historical and democratic progress in South Korea.

Jin-Ho Jang is Associate Professor in the Division of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) in South Korea, where he teaches sociology and globalization studies. His research areas include neoliberalism, democracy, development, and global political economy. He is currently Visiting Scholar at the Center for Korean Studies of UC Berkeley. His published work includes “Neoliberalism in Post-Crisis South Korea” (in English), “Whither Democracy? South Korea under Globalization Revisited” (in English), “Analyzing Neoliberalism as Financial Hegemony” (in Korean) and others.