ABSTRACT
This case study charts the transformation into one of the richest democracies in the world of a country devastated by war and in the hands of a dictatorship and a powerful foreign patron, the United States. Early South Korean governments focused on economic development and anticommunism as their survival strategy in a lethal international environment at the front lines of the Cold War. They produced unprecedented economic growth rates and a thriving middle class, which in turn pushed for political democratization, which was realized in 1987. During the twenty years of democracy since 1987, Korean leaders fell to charges of corruption—the old way of doing business—and were prosecuted through the court system—the new way of doing business. In the process, the role of civil society rapidly grew with the rapid expansion of nongovernmental organizations. Despite a decade-long effort to defuse tensions with North Korea, since the election of the conservative president, Lee Myung-bak, in 2008 tensions have escalated.
