Top-Down Democracy in South Korea

"Mobrand's study not only provides an explanation of why Korea's top-down democracy is the way it is, but also generates questions for future research on authoritarian legacies, democratic consolidation, and varieties of democracy."—Pacific Affairs

"[A] concise, compelling, and original examination."—Journal of American-East Asian Relations

"Top-Down Democracy in South Korea debunks the notion of a bottom-up civil-society activation of transition and an overthrow of old systems of governance."—Katharine H. S. Moon, professor of political science, Wellesley College

"Mobrand argues that South Korea's political parties effectively engage in 'electoral management' rather than incorporating popular demands and opening the parties as mass vehicles of representation. He provides a compelling analysis of political parties and democracy in the Republic of Korea and goes further in showing why the South Korean case is so important to our understanding of democracy."—Robert Pekkanen, coauthor of The Rise and Fall of Japan's LDP: Political Party Organizations as Historical Institutions