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Unrestricted, This dissertation examines interactions between government and environmental nonprofits in South Korea. As a research of historical analysis, I examine the evolution of environmental organizations in Korea from the early 1980s. As quantitative research, I investigate environmental organizations active in metropolitan Seoul from 2006 to 2007. The three major questions for my research are: Are there paths to institutionalizing nonprofits in Korea which differ from those of western countries? What are the factors critical to active nonprofit political advocacy? Does government channel its funds to certain types of environmental nonprofit organizations?; To analyze these questions, I employ a multi-method approach consisting of qualitative interviews with executive directors of 74 environmental nonprofit organizations and an investigation of multiple sources of data on financial, operational and network aspects of those organizations, followed by a historical analysis of the institutional evolution of environmental nonprofits in Korea. Two pieces of study in this dissertation employ network analysis and the other piece of study employs a framework of historical institutionalism.; Chapter 2 highlights government funding and political contestation as important drivers of the evolution of nonprofits. Theoretically this study contributes to the understanding of institutional development by showing that there can be institutional continuities during critical junctures and there can be ongoing institutional changes during path-dependent periods.; Chapter 3 demonstrates that nonprofits with peer legitimacy are more likely to attract funds from government agencies than those with efficiency legitimacy. This study is meant to compare different rationales of government-funded nonprofit provision of public services and to provide new approaches to measuring those rationales.; Chapter 4 examines factors critical to active nonprofit political advocacy. This study fills a gap in exis