ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the issues and contends that neither radical ideology nor the failures in party politics can be seen as the direct cause of the defiance and growing influence of social movements in South Korea. Two months before the South Korean General Elections in 2000, a broad national coalition named the Citizens' Coalition for the 2000 General Election (CAGE) was formed. A close examination of the relationship between activist groups and political institutions reveals that there had been multiple attempts by activists to work through the institutions, which did not materialize. The chapter shows it was the South Korean political system that repeatedly denied access to activist groups, leaving them estranged from the formal political process. The autonomy of the social movement sector would have been undercut, but politics would have stabilized to a great extent. Historically, the South Korean social movements had shown a strong affinity with opposition political parties.
