GR&P Seminar: How Nationalist Polarization Threatens Democracy: Lessons from South Korea

On December 3, 2024, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol shocked the world by declaring martial law. How could a thriving democracy backslide so quickly? This crisis reveals a deeper issue: the impact of nationalist polarization—when political parties are divided by conflicting nationalist visions. This type of polarization is especially harmful because it undermines the foundations of democracy. In countries with histories of nationalist conflict, like South Korea and the United States, nationalist polarization becomes a persistent barrier, limiting how strong and stable democracy can be. Aram Hur is Assistant Professor of Political Science and the Kim Koo Chair in Korean Studies at the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy, Tufts University. She is a scholar of nationalism and democracy. Her book, Narratives of Civic Duty: How National Stories Shape Democracy in Asia (Cornell University Press, 2022), is the winner of the 2023 Robert A. Dahl Award for “scholarship of the highest quality on the subject of democracy” from the American Political Science Association. The MIT Center for International Studies (CIS) is a world premier, university-based research and education center. Learn more at https://cis.mit.edu/ Join the Global Research & Policy Seminar email list here: https://bit.ly/GRPS_Subscribe To view upcoming Global Research & Policy Seminars visit here: https://cis.mit.edu/events-seminars/g... Explore all CIS email lists here: https://cis.mit.edu/connect-cis