ABSTRACT
This chapter pursues two objectives: theoretical and empirical. Theoretically, this chapter is innovative in that it redefines Jacques Derrida’s concept of hauntology and makes use of it in the study of populism at the level of civil society. This conceptual strategy turns out to be substantially consequential since we can better understand the high extent of ambiguities, uncertainties and fluidities built into populism but without losing its fundamental normative claim related to the question of democracy. Empirically, this chapter shows the diverging characteristics of what are called top-down and bottom-up populist citizens in South Korea, compared with the global averages calculated from a global citizens survey data. In so doing, the chapter demonstrates how the multiple genealogical traces of populist imaginations are deeply rooted in the modern history of Korea, why and how they re-emerge from the past, opening up the hauntological space of conflicts and tensions, and why neoliberal citizens, despite their upper position economically, have shown stronger support for autocratic political leadership. Against this background, this chapter offers the new insight that top-down populist citizens are state-oriented with respect to government authority and, hence, are likely to hinder democracy, whereas bottom-up populist citizens may continue to promote democracy in Korea.
