The Role of the Military in the Political and Economic Development of the Republic of Korea

The Republic of Korea has enjoyed considerable economic development in the last twenty years. Until recently, however, political development has lagged. The Korean military has played a series of important, if often unpopular, roles in these two areas: as the holder of a veto in the political background, as a guardian against internal and external threats, as a promoter of social mobility and economic development and as a political institution builder. However, as Korea has become an increasingly complex and economically developed society, the military and the political systems have faced the difficult task of defining a new role- a role that permits continued movement from authoritarianism and yet enables the military to safeguard the society from lingering threats. Indeed, a new conception of civil-military relations is being developed in Korea, but the common challenge first noted by Samuel P. Huntington (namely that the military institutions of any society are shaped by two forces: a functional imperative stemming from the threats to the society's security and a societal imperative arising from the social forces, ideologies, and institutions dominant within the society) remains

Authoritarianism · Civil society · Constitution · Democracy · Development economics · Economic growth · Economics · Ideology · Institution · Military theory · Military threat · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · The Republic · Veto · Asian Industrial and Economic Development · Korean Peninsula Historical and Political Studies · Law

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