ABSTRACT
Few places in the world can match South Korea for the speed and depth of political and social change in recent decades. After nearly forty years of virtually continuous authoritarian rule, punctuated by brief moments of democratic upheaval (1960-1961, 1979-1980), the Republic of Korea (ROK, South Korea) underwent a dramatic transformation from military government to civilian democracy, beginning with the demise of the Chun Doo Hwan regime in 1987. General Chun stepped down under pressure from the largest anti-government demonstrations in South Korean history, the culmination of a wide-ranging pro-democracy movement that brought students, workers, and the middle classes into the sphere of public protest in unprecedented numbers.1
