South Korea’s Democracy Challenge

Hannes B. Mosler

South Korea’s Democracy Challenge

Political System, Political Economy, and Political Society

by Hannes B. Mosler (Volume editor)
©2020, Edited Collection, 224 Pages
History & Political Science

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.

Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
About the author
About the book
Citability of the eBook
Contents
Book Summary
Introduction: South Korea’s Democracy in Light of the Candles
- The Outline of This Book
  - Part I: Political System
  - Part II: Political Economy
  - Part III: Political Society
  - Conclusion
- References
Part I – Political System
- Characteristics and Challenges of South Korea’s Presidential Government System
  - 1 Introduction
  - 2 Theoretical Conceptualization
    - 2.1 Presidentialisms with Attributes
    - 2.2 Perils and Merits of Government Systems
    - 2.3 Criteria and Methods
  - 3 Presidential Power within the Executive
    - 3.1 Status of the President in the Executive, and Its Legitimation
    - 3.2 Checks and Balances in the Executive
    - 3.3 Presidential Office
    - 3.4 Vertical Checks and Balances
    - 3.5 Presidential Appointment Rights
  - 4 Presidential Power Vis-à-Vis the Legislative
    - 4.1 Legislative Rights
    - 4.2 Jurisdictive Rights
    - 4.3 Political Party Organization
    - 4.4 Legal Regulations
  - 5 Presidential Power Vis-à-Vis the Judiciary
    - 5.1 Appointment Power
    - 5.2 Pardoning Power
  - 6 Presidential Powers and Political Culture
    - 6.1 Political Culture
    - 6.2 Presidential Leadership
  - 7 Reform Debates on the Constitution
    - 7.1 Government Proposal
    - 7.2 Opposition Proposal
  - 8 Conclusion
  - Legal Statutes
  - Decisions
  - References
- Thirty Years of Party Politics in South Korea after Democratization: From Mass-Mobilizing Parties to By-Stander Parties
  - 1 Introduction
  - 2 Roles of Political Parties in South Korea
    - 2.1 Decline of Political Party?
    - 2.2 Political Parties in Post-democratization Period in South Korea
  - 3 Three Reasons for the Weakening of Party Politics in South Korea
    - 3.1 Inadaptability
    - 3.2 The Advent of the Internet Politics
    - 3.3 “Anti-political” Political Reforms
  - 4 Conclusion
  - References
Part II – Political Economy
- Inequality and the Crisis of Democracy in South Korea
  - 1 Introduction
  - 2 The Effects of Globalization
  - 3 Does Technological Change Increase Inequality?
  - 4 Labor Market Flexibility
  - 5 The Decline of Trade Unions
  - 6 The Effect of Tax and Social Policies
  - 7 The Political Impacts of Voting System
  - 8 Conclusion
  - References
- Chaebol Reform in South Korea
  - 1 Introduction
  - 2 The Korean Economy Today
    - 2.1 Persistence of Slow Economic Growth
    - 2.2 Crisis in the Manufacturing Sector
      - 2.2.1 The Decline of Competitiveness
      - 2.2.2 Industrial Stagnation and Lack of Innovation
    - 2.3 Zombie Firms and Government-Controlled Banking
    - 2.4 Labor Market and Social Polarization
  - 3 From Government-Led and Chaebol-Centered Economy to Inclusive Market Economy
    - 3.1 Why does Government-Led Policy Fail?
      - 3.1.1 Uncertainty and Innovation
      - 3.1.2 Institutional Preconditions for Innovative Economy
      - 3.1.3 Chaebol and Innovative Economy
    - 3.2 Inclusive Market Economy
      - 3.2.1 Institutional Prerequisites for Market Economy
      - 3.2.2 Welfare System and Social Safety Net
  - 4 Strategy for Chaebol Reform
    - 4.1 Why Chaebol Reform?
    - 4.2 How to Reform?
      - 4.2.1 Israeli Reform of 2013
      - 4.2.2 Application to the Korean Case
  - 5 Concluding Remarks
  - References
Part III – Political Society
- What Social Movements Can (Not) Contribute to Democracy
  - 1 Democracy under Pressure
  - 2 Criteria for a Democracy
  - 3 Social Movements’ Contribution to Democracy: A Differentiation
    - 3.1 Conditions for Social Movements’ Contribution to the Democratic Practice
    - 3.2 Conditions for Social Movements’ Contribution to Safeguarding Democracy
  - 4 Conclusion
  - References
- Winding Path of Democratization and the Transformation of Citizen Politics in South Korea, 1987–2017
  - 1 Introduction
  - 2 Two Central Problems: Post-authoritarian Legacies and Post-democracy
    - 2.1 Democratic Deficits in Post-authoritarian Societies
    - 2.2 The Challenges of Post-democracy in an Era of Neoliberalism
  - 3 Dual Problems of South Korean Democracy since 1987
    - 3.1 The Specificity of the Problems of South Korean Democracy
    - 3.2 The Pendulum Movement: Democratization, Re-authoritarianization, Re-democratization
  - 4 Transformations of Civil Society and the Rise of the Candlelight Protests
    - 4.1 Structural Transformations of South Korean Civil Society
    - 4.2 Gains and Limits of the Candlelight Protests and the Impeachment in 2016~2017
  - 5 Conclusion
  - References
- The Evolution of South Korean Civic Activism1
  - 1 Introduction
  - 2 Resurgence of Civic Activism in South Korea
    - 2.1 Disaffected Radicalism Thesis
    - 2.2 Social Capital Thesis
    - 2.3 Postmaterialism Thesis
  - 3 Methods
    - 3.1 Data
    - 3.2 Models
    - 3.3 Measurement
      - 3.3.1 Protest Potential
      - 3.3.2 Socioeconomic Status
      - 3.3.3 Party Support
      - 3.3.4 Disaffected Radicalism
      - 3.3.5 Social Capital
      - 3.3.6 Postmaterialism
  - 4 Results
    - 4.1 Who Protests?
    - 4.2 Why Protest?
  - 5 Discussion and Conclusions
  - Appendix 1. Materialism-Postmaterialism Items
  - References
List of Figures
List of Tables
Contributors

Pages:

224

Year:

2020

ISBN (HARDBACK):

9783631800935 (Active)

ISBN (EPUB):

9783631809822 (Active)

ISBN (PDF):

9783631809815 (Active)

DOI:

10.3726/b16470

Language:

English

Keywords:

Democratization, Political Economy, inequality, Transition, social conflict, political polarization

Published:

Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Warszawa, Wien, 2020. 224 pp., 11 fig. b/w, 11 tables.

Hannes B. Mosler holds a PhD in political science and is Professor at the Institute of Korean Studies (IKS) with a focus on Korean politics at Freie Universität Berlin (Germany). His major research interests are political parties, political systems, constitutional law, political remembrance, and policy decision processes in Korea and comparative research approaches.

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South Korea’s Democracy Challenge

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