ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how citizenship as an idea and practice has evolved in South Korea since its foundation as a divided nation in 1948. 1 It approaches citizenship as a form of political membership of a community governed by a modern state; hence it encompasses a range of relationships between the individual and the state, social groups and the state, and among the individuals and social groups. The specific content of citizenship, including its local meanings and practices, can vary from one political community to another and within a given political community over time. This broad working definition of citizenship focusing on change is necessary to globalizing citizenship studies by recognizing the political and cultural agency of women and men who are exposed to a meaning of citizenship, adopt it, modify it, and reinvent it in accordance with their daily experiences in a specific local context. This chapter also pays attention to the interplay between globalization and localization in practising citizenship. As will be discussed below, this intricate working of the apparently competing forces of globalization and localization existed before contemporary globalization.
