Authoritarian Legacies, Collective Identity, and Far-right Protest: Lessons from the Taegeukgi Rallies in South Korea

South Korean conservatives have organized a movement called the Taegeukgi Rallies. This movement started in late 2016 to oppose the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye. Then, the movement transformed into a series of anti-government protests after the formation of the new administration by President Moon Jae-in. This movement is puzzling since the literature on mass mobilization does not provide good explanations about the movement’s timing, demographic composition, and protest agendas. With the in-depth interviews with rally participants and non-participants, this study suggests an alternative explanation that the collective identity shaped from authoritarian socialization and strengthened with authoritarian nostalgia plays a significant role in mobilizing rally participants.