While most analyses of Korean politics have looked to elites to explain political change, this new and revised edition of Korean Society examines the role of ordinary people in this dramatic transformation. Taking the innovative theme of 'civil society' - voluntary organizations outside the role of the state which have participated in the process of political and social democratization - the essays collected here examine Korea as one of the most dramatic cases in the world of ordinary citizens participating in the transformation of politics.

Key topics discussed include:

• comparisons of Korean democratization to the experiences of post-authoritarian regimes elsewhere in the world
• comparisons of the theory of civil society as developed in Western Europe and America
• the legacy of Korea's Confucian past for contemporary politics and society
• close examinations of various civil society movements
• South Korea and

Introduction to the Second Edition   1. Civil Society in West and East   2. The Problematic Modernity of Confucianism: "Civil Society" in Choson Korea  3. Civil Society and Democratization in South Korea   4. Engendering Civil Society: The Role of the Labor Movement  5. The South Korean Student Movement: Undongkwon as Counterpublic Sphere  6. Women and Civil Society in South Korea  7. Commemorating Kwangju: The 5.18 Movement and Civil Society in the Late 1990s   8. Protestant Christianity and the State  9. Beyond the DMZ: The Possibility of Civil Society in North Korea