How Anti-Communism Disrupted Decolonization
South Korea’s State-Building Under US Patronage
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20048261 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Dong-Choon Kim (Sungkonghoe University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Pages | 185-201 |
| Publication date | 2020-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | CHAPTER |
| Venue | The Palgrave Handbook of Anti-Communist Persecutions (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | Springer International Publishing (PUBLISHER • SG) |
| DOI | 10.1007/978-3-030-54963-3_8 |
| OpenAlex | W3110955722 |
| ISBN | 9783030549633 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
Korea had been a Japanese colony from 1910 to 1945. Instead of becoming independent and unified, it was divided in the aftermath of World War II. The chapter describes how the American Cold War strategy of anti-communism penetrated the internal politics of South Korea, and distorted, or even prevented, like in other countries the process of decolonization, keeping the colonial apparatus in place. The historical task of reshaping the post-colonial order in East Asia was overshadowed for the US by requirements of its new hegemony and the need to rebuild the region’s capitalist economies. The systematic elimination of former independence activists, including right-wing nationalists in South Korea, by extreme anti-communists who had worked for the Japanese foretold the dominance of anti-communism in politics. The ideology of anti-communism brought South Koreans permanent surveillance, political terror, and mass killing like during colonial subjugation
Colonialism · Communism · Decolonization · Development economics · Economic history · Economics · Hegemony · Ideology · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · World War II · History · Japanese History and Culture · Law
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |