Legacy of Resisting State Repression: Evidence From Gwangju Uprising in South Korea

Legacy of state repression scholarship has examined how repression exerts long-term consequences for individuals, societies, and states. However, previous studies have paid limited attention to how initial responses to repression—ranging from non-resistance to resistance—mediate its long-term effects. I argue that responses to repression shape heterogeneous and persistent effects on political attitudes and behaviors through both selection into resistance and learning effects from joining resistance. I test this argument using a mixed-methods research design that combines surveys, lab-in-the-field experiments, semi-structured interviews, and a longitudinal analysis of career trajectories. I find systematic differences between resisters and non-resisters in both the levels and motivations of post-repression political activism. Resisters are more likely to engage in politics more actively and to prioritize the production of public goods through their activism. Semi-structured interviews indicate that the learning effects of joining resistance—specifically the acquisition of human capital and positive psychological changes—are crucial to sustaining political activism.