Two-Track Democracy in South Korea

Two-Track Democracy in South Korea PDF

Author: Seongyi Yun

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-03-02

Total Pages: 217

ISBN-13: 1000837718

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This book examines three ironic phenomena of South Korean democracy that have developed after its democratic transition in 1987. While the evaluation of South Korea’s political system by external institutions has steadily improved, people’s trust in the nation’s political system continues to decline. However, in the face of political distrust, unlike in Western democracies, voter turnout has increased. Even though political participation and the political influence of citizens have been strengthened over time, the political influence of civic organizations that fostered the initial democratization movement in the 1980s has weakened, parallel to the decline in citizens’confidence in these organizations. Why is South Korean democracy witnessing ironic phenomena that cannot be succinctly explained by existing theories of political development or democracy? This book seeks these answers within the framework of a twotrack democracy, that is, the interplay between institutional and contentious politics. A model of democracy that combines contentious politics with formal politics can shed light on this phenomenon. Yun proposed that the traditional hierarchical and elite-centered political system is no longer sustainable. In order to resolve the democratic deficiency perceived by citizens, it is necessary to consider a new model of democracy beyond the improvement of representative democracy. Moreover, the new model of democracy should be based on a fusion of institutional politics and contentious politics. The book will appeal to scholars and students interested in the politics of South Korea democratization and democracy more generally.

Consolidating Democracy in South Korea

Consolidating Democracy in South Korea PDF

Author: Larry Jay Diamond

Publisher: Lynne Rienner Publishers

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 9781555878481

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

A review of the dilemmas, tensions and contradictions arising from democratic consolidation in South Korea. It explores the turbulent features of Korean democracy in its first decade, assesses the progress that has been made, and identifies the key obstacles to effective democratic governance.

South Korea's Democracy Challenge

South Korea's Democracy Challenge PDF

Author: Hannes B. Mosler

Publisher: Research on Korea

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9783631800935

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Thirty years have passed since in 1987 formal democratization was achieved in South Korea. Since then the country has undergone the two turnover test (Huntington), and it overcame economic, financial, and political crises. However, social inequality is higher than before democratization, social conflict has been exacerbating, and political polarization has been on the rise. South Korea's democracy has been going through a continuous stress test trying the polity's capacity to heal social conflict, integrate society, and mature politics as meeting these challenges is key to sustainable consolidation of democracy. The chapters of this edited volume, written by experts from South Korea and Germany in respective fields, examine the way in which South Korea has coped with these challenges in its political system, political economy, and political society since its transition to formal democracy, and provide a focused critical assessment of three decades after democratization.

South Korea’s Democracy in Crisis

South Korea’s Democracy in Crisis PDF

Author: Gi-Wook Shin

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2022-12-27

Total Pages: 361

ISBN-13: 1931368716

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Like in many other states worldwide, democracy is in trouble in South Korea, entering a state of regression in the past decade, barely thirty years after its emergence in 1987. The contributors to this volume trace the sources of illiberalism in today’s Korea.

Media and Democratic Transition in South Korea

Media and Democratic Transition in South Korea PDF

Author: Ki-Sung Kwak

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-07-26

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 1136297928

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Since South Korea achieved partial democracy in 1987, the country has moved away from authoritarian political control. However, after two decades of democratic transition, South Korea still does not have a strong liberal, individualist culture – something that has brought about a wide range of scholarly discussion on the nature of democracy practised in this dynamic country. While the political changes in South Korea have received rigorous attention from Western scholars, less attention has been given to the changing nature and role of media in this and other such transitions. This book focuses on the changing role of media in the more democratised political landscape of South Korea. It thereby contributes to debates about the emerging role of the media in democratic transition, especially in relation to approaches that go beyond traditional Western constructs of media freedom and the relationship between the state and the media. In addition, it discusses the complex interacting forces that affect the role of the media and their implications for state control and democratisation.

Nation Building in South Korea

Nation Building in South Korea PDF

Author: Gregg Brazinsky

Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com

Published: 2009-09-17

Total Pages: 298

ISBN-13: 145872350X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Nation building has been a ubiquitous component of American foreign policy during the last century. The United States has attempted to create and sustain nation-states that advance its interests and embody its ideals in places ranging from the Philippines to Vietnam to Iraq. At no time did Washington engage in nation building more intensively than during the Cold War. The United States deemed capturing the loyalties of the vast regions of the globe emerging from colonialism as crucial to the struggle against Communism. To achieve this end it launched vast efforts to carve diverse parts of Asia, Africa, and Latin America into reliable ''Free World'' allies. U.S. officials believed that, by providing the right kinds of resources, they could stimulate economic development and democratization in regions where neither of these phenomena had made significant inroads. This book examines one of the most extensive, costly, and arguably successful of these efforts - South Korea.... Throughout these chapters, I have sought to demonstrate the agency of South Koreans in determining the ultimate impact of the United States on their society. To the extent that the U.S. influence could be called hegemonic, American hegemony was a dialectical process that Koreans played a significant role in shaping. To emphasize this point, I have approached the process of nation building from both sides through the use of American and Korean sources. This analysis makes it clear that the evolution of the South Korea we know today did not entirely reflect the will of Americans or Koreans. It was achieved only through constant negotiation between the two. ----Preface.

Democratization and Social Movements in South Korea

Democratization and Social Movements in South Korea PDF

Author: Sun-Chul Kim

Publisher:

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780415582582

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This book examineshow social movements in previously authoritarian contexts evolve after a democratic transition. It looks into how democratic change shapes the trajectory of social movements, and how social movements affect the pace and direction of democracy in turn, using South Korea as a case. South Korea provides an intellectual challenge to students of social movements and democracy in that intense mobilization and a strong influence of social movements have accompanied steady democratization for more than two decades, despite major theories having predicted otherwise. The examination of how social movements and democratization interact in post-transition South Korea, therefore, aims at specifying the causal conditions and processes that contribute to our understanding of how variations occur in the trajectories of contentious politics in new democracies. Drawing on a wide range of data, including original protest event data, this book explains how South Korean social movements were able to attain strong political influence and settle as a powerful player in democratic South Korea by focusing on four causal factors: the configuration of major political actors during the transition period, the relational dynamics among social movement groups, the relationship between social movements and institutionalized political actors, and the impact of transnational forces in the post-transition period. The findings point to an uncharted trajectory of contentious democratization, in which a highly mobilized social movement sector has contributed to democratic deepening by filling in the voids created by the deficiencies in the formal political process.

Top-down Democracy in South Korea

Top-down Democracy in South Korea PDF

Author: Erik Mobrand

Publisher: Korean Studies of the Henry M.

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780295745497

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

"Top-Down Democracy documents how free and fair elections in South Korea, a country widely heralded as a successful new democracy, have failed to force political parties to reorganize their elitist structures. This finding contradicts political scientists' expectation that free elections lead directly to mass mobilizing forms of politics which constrain elite power. Drawing on Korean-language sources, this study shows how party elites have built techniques for insulating themselves from electoral vulnerability. It takes the reader through South Korea's political development from 1945 through the demise of dictatorship in the 1980s and into the first two decades of democracy. This narrative shows that earlier patterns of creating political order generated long-term impediments to achieving highly competitive electoral politics. South Korea democratized, but it did not become the sort of democracy we usually imagine. The Korean story is important for anyone seeking to understand democratization and democracy promotion around the world. Scholarship and public discussion on democratization place excessive emphasis on the establishment of democratic institutions. How those institutions operate can vary tremendously and can contain deep imprints of earlier political patterns, even when the institutions meet the standard criteria for a democracy. The themes in this book are important and timely in a world where democratic institutions are celebrated and widely promoted but their consequences are inadequately understood. Top-Down Democracy will appeal to readers interested in modern Korean and East Asian history, political science, and democratization"--

Lanterna Rally - Theme by Grace Themes