Networked Collective Actions

In Networked Collective Actions, Hyunjin Seo offers a comprehensive account of South Korean citizens' massive and sustained candlelight vigils in 2016-17, which led to impeachment and removal of then President Park Geun-hye. Based on interviews with key players in the impeachment movement and original analyses of news reports and social media posts, Seo untangles intricate interactions between different actors that were supported and sometimes constrained by the technological, socio-political, and legal environments in which they occurred. In doing so, Seo examines how the broad public consensus on Park was achieved in a South Korean media environment characterized by polarization and low public trust, where extreme right-wing media outlets amplified conspiracy theories and false claims in opposition to impeachment.