The rise of the illiberal, far-right politics threatens democratic system throughout the world. The South Korean president Yoon Seok-yeol’s martial law declaration in December 2024 stunned the world. More puzzling is that Yoon’s insurrection unexpectedly gained substantial support from the ruling right-wing party and ordinary citizens. Why do ordinary citizens support authoritarian leaders and martial law in a democratic country? What draws these citizens to extreme actions and ideas? Through eighteen months of field research and drawing from rich qualitative data, this talk will provide an in-depth account of the ideas and practices of the far-right groups and organizations, and help to understand the roots of current democratic regression.

Speaker:

Myungji Yang is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Hawai‘i-Mānoa. A political sociologist and social movement scholar, she is interested in the issues of power, inequality, civil society and democracy. Her research has appeared in Nations and Nationalism, Politics and Society, Mobilization: An International Inquiry, Urban Studies, and Sociological Inquiry, among other venues. She is the author of two books, From Miracle to Mirage (2018, Cornell University Press) and Reactionary Politics in South Korea: Historical Legacies, Far-Right Intellectuals, and Political Mobilization (2025, Cambridge University Press). She is currently developing a research project on young men’s radicalization and anti-feminist politics.

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