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The Dynamics of the 2008 Candlelight Protests

  • Informatization Policy
  • Abbr : 정보화정책
  • 2008, 15(4), pp.120-139
  • Publisher : NIA
  • Research Area : Social Science > Public Policy

Kim, Yong Cheol 1

1전남대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Nobody expected that the candlelight vigils initiated by teenagers rapidly evolved into monthslong massive protests. The protests are quite new in terms of frequent interactions between offline and online, as well as polycentric, and loosely networked leaderships. This paper analyzes the effects that on-offline interactions brought to the protests, and examines their political implications. According to the analysis, on-offline interactions had positive influence on the protest from formation of movement agenda to consolidation of collective identity, while polycentric and loosely networked leadership provided the movements with the ability to adapt easily to changing circumstances. Meanwhile, the on-offline interactions also produced negative effects. The on-offline interactions, leading ultimately to a lack of movement leadership, resulted in a failure of the protests in terms of achievement. A political lesson of the candlelight vigils is that open and smooth communications between political leaders and ordinary people are urgent for consolidating Korean democracy.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.