The Political Economy of Korea ― Transition, Transformation and Turnaround

"Korea's twin transitions--agrarian to industrial and industrial to post-industrial--effectively transformed the country's political economy. Moving away from the traditional focus on aspects such as market, state and world systems, culture, and colonialism, the author argues that Korea's so-called 'second state' was revitalized through the 'people's movement' and the more recent 'citizens movement'. The 'second state' provided incremental pressure to subvert the agrarian equilibrium of a previous era dominated by the Yangban aristocracy as well as the industrial equilibrium enforced by large business conglomerates. This book is an attempt to acknowledge the sacrifices made by the Korean people to enlarge the basis of Korean capitalism, bringing the wider society into its framework"--