The Politics of the Have-Nots: What South Korean Activism Teaches Us about Radical Democracy

As authoritarianism and inequality deepen around the world, where can we look to find hope for democracy? Hae Yeon Choo turns to South Korea, where ordinary people are keeping democracy alive from below. Drawing on deep engagement with grassroots activism in South Korea and its diaspora over the past two decades, this book illuminates a new politics taking shape there: the politics of the have-nots.

The people in this book have experienced violent dispossession under liberal democracy, whe...