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AbstractThis article undertakes a comparative analysis of two cases, Hong Kong and South Korea, each characterized by distinct levels of political and civil liberties to elucidate how the institutionalization of national security operates in shaping the repertoires of popular political actions and the repressive conduct of state actors. In both cases, the legal frameworks serve to curtail popular political action, both online and offline, often through discretionary applications of national security norms, resulting in ambiguity. They bestow legitimacy upon state agencies to engage in protest policing, surveillance, and the suppression of individuals or organizations in the name of upholding national security. In contrast, the national security laws in Hong Kong and South Korea, influenced by varying interpretations and applications of perceived threats to national security, result in differences in the extent and degree of contentious political actions and state repression.

The 2021 military coup in Myanmar incited widespread civil resistance, including mass street protests, a civil disobedience movement, labour strikes and armed rebellions. Despite more than three years of conflict, the junta maintains power in certain areas of the country. This article employs an outcome-explaining, process-tracing approach to elucidate the junta's persistence. The analysis reveals that civil resistance activities are highly fragmented, with minimal convergence in their operations or long-term visions. This fragmentation stems from divergent views within the movement regarding non-violent versus armed resistance and the varied objectives of different armed ethnic organizations opposing the military. Concurrently, the junta has bolstered its repressive capabilities by developing institutionalized methods for countering adversarial forces. These methods are deeply intertwined with Myanmar's ethnicpolitical history and the military's entrenched dominance over political institutions. Consequently, this article contends that the evolution of both resistance efforts and the junta's repressive strategies has been markedly asymmetrical. (Contemp Southeast Asia / GIGA)

Candlelight protests were held in 2016 and 2017 in South Korea. Hundreds of thousands of people gathered downtown with candles in their hands, and it is widely recognized as an unprecedented collective action in the history of Korean politics. This study analyzes how the candlelight protests developed and achieved the impeachment of the president. Drawing on political opportunity theory, this paper examines how the political opportunity was formulated in the process and outcome of these candlelight protests. This paper identifies three properties that served as enabling conditions embedded in this case: (1) political freedoms guaranteed in the existing formal institutions; (2) political elites in alignment with the protesters and the rule of law; and (3) low risk of state repression of law-abiding collective action. Overall, the political opportunities were sufficiently established in Korean society for citizens to take collective action and their protests led to the desired outcome.

"Bringing together an interdisciplinary group of scholars, Post-Politics and Civil Society in Asian Cities examines how the concept of 'post-politics' has manifested across a range of Asian cities, and the impact this has had on state-society relationships in processes of urban governance. This volume examines how the post-political framework - derived from the study of Western liberal democracies - applies to Asian cities. Appreciating that the region has undergone a distinctive trajectory of political development, and is currently governed under democratic or authoritarian regimes, the book articulates how post-political conditions have created obstacles or opportunities for civil society to assert their voice in urban governance. Chapters address the different ways in which Asian civil society groups strive to gain a stake in the development and management of cities, specifically by looking at their involvement in heritage and environmental governance, two inter-related components in discourses about establishing liveable cities for the future. By providing in-depth case studies examining the varying degrees to which post-political ideologies have been enacted in urban governance across Central, South, Southeast, and East Asia, this book offers a useful and timely resource for students and scholars interested in Urban Studies, Political Science, Asian Studies, Geography, and Sociology"--