This thesis investigates democratisation in South Korea. Unlike what structure- and process-oriented accounts of democratisation claim, democracy in South Korea was achieved through sustained popular action. The late-late development led by the authoritarian developmental state did not allow bourgeois or institutional politics to take the leading role for democracy. Social movements replaced them by making political opportunities and developing collective identity, their mobilising structures, and by using various discourses, repertoires, and framing. The structural context, movements' interaction with the state, and their strategies produced democracy with paradoxical results. Not only did they fail to achieve social democracy as their objective, but also the “founding election” for the transition to democracy in 1987 was exploited by elites. The paradoxical process of democratisation suppressed the reverse transition to reauthoritarianism on the one hand and constrained the popular sovereignty expressed through constitutionally legitimate massive collective action on the other hand. Though democratisation through collective action did not end “happily ever after,” it brought about democracy not only in institutional politics but also in noninstitutional politics. / Graduate

La thèse s'attache à rendre compte des conditions pratiques et symboliques d'appropriation par les étudiants grévistes de la seconde moitié des années 2000 en France d'une forme d'organisation, l'assemblée générale (AG), qui fait partie de leur répertoire contestataire depuis les années 1960. Il s'agit ainsi de comprendre comment des formes d'action se reproduisent d'une mobilisation à l'autre, c'est-à-dire comment des acteurs en viennent à avoir recours à l'une plutôt qu'à d'autres qu'ils connaissent, comment ils en font l'apprentissage et comment ils la transforment à la marge en la pratiquant. Elle s'appuie principalement sur une enquête ethnographique menée sur les mobilisations qu'ont connu trois sites universitaires entre 2006 et 2010. Les usages des AG sont façonnés par les luttes internes aux groupes sociaux, politiques et syndicaux impliqués dans l'espace de ces mobilisations, de sorte que leur succès tient à la fois à une entreprise symbolique de justification de ces dernières au nom de la « démocratie » par des courants minoritaires, et à leur plasticité. Elles sont en effet investies de toute une palette de rôles – qui n'ont parfois rien à voir avec des normes « démocratiques ». Elles sont ainsi promues par des militants auxquelles elles permettent d'avoir le sentiment de peser sur une masse d'étudiants, et cela d'autant plus qu'ils appartiennent à de petites organisations qui sont loin de pouvoir mobiliser autant d'adhérents. / This dissertation illuminates the practical and symbolic conditions of appropriation of general assemblies (assemblées générales – AG) by striking students in the second half of the 2000s in France. This mode of organization has been part of their contentious repertoire since the 1960s. It tries to understand the recurrence of ways of action from a mobilization to another, that is, how actors come to resort to one of them instead of others they know, how they learn how to practice it and how they slightly transform it in the process. It is mostly based on an ethnographic investigation about the mobilizations of three higher education sites between 2006 and 2010. The uses of AG are shaped by internal conflicts among the social, political and union groups which are involved in the space of these mobilizations, so that their success stems from both the symbolic entreprise of justification of them in the sake of « democracy » by minority currents, and their plasticity. Indeed, they play a whole set of roles – which sometimes have nothing to do with « democratic » norms. They are promoted by activists to whom they give the feeling that they influence a mass of students, especially as they belong to organizations which are far from being able to mobilize as many members.

1900-talets början var en tid med olika arbetsmarknadskonflikter. Det förekom strejker, demonstrationer, kravaller och agitationsmöten. Dessa konflikter utspelade sig i ett samhälle där arbetarrörelsen började organisera sig alltmer i fackföreningar och i arbetarkommuner för att få politiskt inflytande och inflytande över sin arbetssituation. Det gjorde att arbetarrörelsen hamnade i sociala konfrontationer med omgivning, myndigheter och arbetsgivare. Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka kopplingen mellan klassformering i ett identitetsperspektiv och framväxten av konfliktrepertoarer i det tidiga 1900-talets fackliga organisationssträvanden. Frågeställningarna utgår från att identifiera konfliktrepertoarer i sociala konfrontationer och vilka av dessa som används för att skapa klassamhörighet i olika sociala, fackliga och politiska sammanhang. För att studera sociala konfrontationer, konfliktrepertoarer och identitetsskapande inom arbetarrörelsen har källmaterial efter fackföreningar vid Bergslagernas järnvägar i Åmål använts. Uppsatsen är ett bidrag till arbetarhistoria och källmaterialet undersöks utifrån teorin i forskningsfältet Contentious Politics Studies. Uppsatsen har även en ikonografisk ansats eftersom källmaterialet innehåller visuella uttryck. I undersökningen har fyra olika sociala konfrontationer identifierats. Dessa är: Agitation och politisk mobilisering 1908 - 1911, Oskar Lundströms avskedande 1909, Lokmannastrejken 1919 och Den stora järnvägsstrejken 1922. Ett antal konfliktrepertoarer identifieras och uppsatsens resultat är att konfliktrepertoarerna utvecklas och förfinas över tid. Kraven blir mer tydligt formulerade och handlingar tillsammans med visuell kultur stärker den politiska identiteten. Konfliktrepertoarer, handlingar och identiteter blir därigenom meningsskapande i klassformeringen. / The beginning of the 20th century was a time of various labor market conflicts. There were strikes, demonstrations, riots and agitation meetings. These conflicts took place in a society where the labor movement began to organize itself in trade unions in order to gain political influence and influence over their work situation. As a result, the labor movement ended up in confrontations with the environment, authorities and employers. The main purpose of the essay is to investigate the connection between class affiliation in an identity perspective and the emergence of contentious repertoires in the early 20th century trade union organizational efforts. The essay is based on theories of Contentious Politics Studies. The investigated material is archives of trade unions at Bergslagernas railways in Åmål. Four different contentious politics have been identified. These are: 1. Agitation and political mobilization 1908 - 1911, 2. Oskar Lundström's dismissal 1909, 2. The engine driver strike in 1919 and 4. The great railway strike in 1922. The result of the essay is that the contentious repertoires are developed and refined over time. The claim making are more clearly formulated and contentious performances together with visual culture strengthen the political identity. Contentious repertoires, contentious performances and political identities thereby create meaning in class affiliation.