Between the Streets and the Assembly

When it comes to South Korean politics and democracy, there seem to be two contrasting images: One is vibrant social activism, from the militant student and labor protests of the 1980s to the massive anti-government candlelight rallies in 2016 and 2017. Unlike the outstanding record of these movements for social change, institutional politics lags far behind, often represented by two contentious parties and stalled legislation that completely fail to deliver public goods.Yoonkyung Lee's book Between the Streets and the Assembly addresses a long-standing debate about the gap between weak political parties and strong social movements in South Korean politics and tackles the puzzling question of why successful social movements have not translated into effective party politics. To answer this question, previous studies have focused on structural and historical conditions, such as lingering authoritarian legacies or restrictive electoral institutions, that have helped sustain an unresponsive and ineffective party system. Examining the agency of political actors and their capacity to coordinate both within and between organizations, Lee argues that political actors in different organizations have developed varying degrees of capacity for collective action, which have in turn shaped the range of outcomes among social movements and political parties. Throughout the book, Lee illuminates three distinctive pathways taken by 1980s democracy activists after South Korea's democratization—continuing to engage in social movement organizations, joining a mainstream centrist political party, or establishing a new progressive party. Drawing on diverse empirical data based on participant observations, in-depth interviews, and archival sources, Lee concludes that while those in the social movement sector could successfully build national solidarity infrastructures and push democratic reform agendas forward, the other two groups of activists working in both existing mainstream and progressive parties were not as successful.Between the Streets and the Assembly is among the first books that closely examines the postauthoritarian political trajectory in South Korea. While numerous studies have investigated the processes of democratic transition and consolidation up to the early 2000s, few studies in Anglophone scholarship have systematically explored post-1987 political developments in the long term, a period in which former student activists and revolutionaries played significant roles. It is also a timely book. Given the prevalent criticism of the so-called 586 generation (those who are now in their fifties, went to college in the 1980s, and were born in the 1960s, but specifically those who participated in the protest movements of the 1980s and developed a distinctive collective outlook as a result) in both the South Korean media and popular discourses, which argue that this generation is just another corrupt establishment that exploits the younger generations, Lee's book provides an objective and balanced perspective on their challenges and limitations as well as achievements.In my opinion, the greatest virtue of the book is that it overcomes the binary framing of political parties and social movements and captures how they interact. While some scholars have called for analyzing the connections among these organizations to better understand political dynamics, existing scholarship tends to treat them separately. Describing the processes by which social movements and political parties have responded to each other, interacted, and shaped the conditions of democratic politics, Lee demonstrates that social movement organizations outside institutionalized politics have indeed played a central role in deepening democracy by pressuring political parties to act, giving policy suggestions, and leading political change. This is also unique in South Korean politics. Disputing the argument that weak, dysfunctional party politics is a sign of under- or undeveloped democracy, a dominant assumption in the study of politics, Lee suggests that we should acknowledge multiple pathways for democratic politics and South Korea's case should not be evaluated from a Western-centric view.While the book convincingly describes the three divergent pathways of those who participated in the prodemocracy movement and the mixed outcomes of their political experiments, Lee's analysis could be extended by including a fourth route—conservative conversions. Some former democracy movement activists abandoned their previous political ideals and joined the Right, whether they were recruited into it or came to support right-wing causes on their own. This group is currently the most aggressive in attacking their political opponents, undermining the legacies of the 1980s democracy movement, and weakening progressive political reforms. Thus, by incorporating the role of ideological converts to the conservative party and right-wing civic organizations in the book's analysis, we can better grasp why political reforms have not been fully successful despite the efforts of the other three groups.Through a meso-level approach, Between the Streets and the Assembly explains political actions and their outcomes. Political actors coordinate, make decisions, and act within the context of different organizations. Thus, the empirical evidence in the book focuses on explaining their experiences and challenges at the organizational level. Future research will also benefit from studying the life histories and lived experiences of former student activists. For example, why did some choose to remain in the social movement sector, whereas others decided to join mainstream political parties? How did their backgrounds and experiences affect their decisions? These can be interesting questions to help understand the various motivations and political ideals behind the paths taken by former activists.We have witnessed a surge in Far Right politics and authoritarian reversals around the globe in the last decade, including the return of the Right to power in South Korea and consequent restrictions on social rights in the name of law and order, and the future prospects of democracy seem rather bleak. To strengthen democracy, Lee's emphasis is on expanding the capacity for collective action and building solidarity infrastructures on the progressive side. Between the Streets and the Assembly deepens our understanding of the legacies of the democracy movement, interactions between political parties and social movement organizations, and postauthoritarian developments. Scholars and the general public concerned with democratic deepening and consolidation, party politics, and political contentions both in and outside South Korea will find Lee's book informative, insightful, and valuable

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