Democratic Consolidation beyond Political Crisis: An Experience of Korea

Abstract

In late 20th century, the East Asian region joined the world-wide democratic trend of 'the third wave.'1 Once formidable authoritarian regimes were dismantled and gave way to democratization. The trend began in the Philippines in 1986 and it was followed by South Korea and Taiwan both in 1987. Thailand joined the club in 1992 and Indonesia did the same a couple of years before the new millennium. In those countries, new democratic constitutions were written. With the new constitutions, freedom of political participation was bestowed upon ordinary citizens, civil organizations, political parties, and so on. Free and fair elections have been regularly held since then and the elections, reflecting the hopes of ordinary citizens, installed new civilian political leadership.Not all democratic transitions and consolidations in those countries, however, were without crisis. Despite free and competitive elections and political participation guaranteed by constitutions and by the laws related to elections and political parties, the marches towards further democracy in those countries often look unstable and confusing. The instability was partly due to a sudden explosion of political demands, which had been suppressed for a long time under authoritarian rule. The plethora of political demands could not be smoothly aggregated and articulated in the new born democratic political systems. If the instability of a newly democratized political system continues, then it may endanger the sustainability of a new democracy causing reversal of democracy or return to authoritarianism.Korea, after democratization, has been plagued by various political crises too. The economic crisis in 1997 was a grave test for Korean democracy. With the economic crisis, Korea, for the first time, experienced a peaceful change of political power. Korea's march towards democracy was thereafter relatively smooth despite minor political scandals. In spring 2004, Korea suddenly plunged into a political crisis when President Roh Moo-Hyun faced impeachment proceedings. This crisis brought about a serious division not only among politicians, but also among ordinary citizens. Also, hot debates on the constitution, on political leadership and civil society were incurred. The presidential impeachment was the first in Korea's history. It, however, became an important turning point of democratic progress when political leaders and civil society successfully managed and overcame the crisis.This study will first analyze democratic transition and consolidation and secondly analyze the causes of and responses to the political crisis caused by the impeachment of the president through examining the following questions. The main questions of this study are as follows: How did the democratic transition and consolidation in Korea occur? What was the nature of political crisis in Korea after democratization? What was the main reason of the crisis? What sort of problems did the political leadership and civil society have? How did Korea respond to the crisis and overcome the...

A Study of Political Stability in Malaysia: A Study about National Civilian Perception

“…The political crisis prompted by the presidential impeachment was a joint product of a lack of leadership and of clashing interests among major political forces in Korea. At the early stage of his presidency, Roh failed to be a leader of mediation, coordination and consultation (Lee & Lee, 2008). Regarding to the research paper of George K. Davis and Bryce E. Kanago, they have investigated the possibility that some of the sensitivity is caused by a third variable that affects both inflation and economic growth, political stability.…”

“…The way to overcome the challenges to political leadership and political crises in the democratic transition and consolidation in a post-democratization period is to build a new democratic political model, appropriate for the new democratic law and order. In other words, political leaders and civil society have to accept democratic law and order that were established in the transition period as the only and sole ‗rule of game' in politics and have to internalize the democratic political procedure and culture in them, on top of institutional and procedural democracy (Lee & Lee, 2008). According to the statement of Kostas Karamanis, genuine democratization and political/economic reform and the abandoning of nationalistic concepts are crucial to a peaceful and prosperous future for the Balkans.…”

The Women's Movement in South Korea*

“…Accordingly, this study concurs with the RM theorists that the formation of social movements is linked to improvement in the status of aggrieved groups, women in this case, not because of grievances caused by the “revolution of rising expectations” but because these changes reduce the costs of mobilization and improve the likelihood of success (Jenkins, 1983:532). Equipped with what Inglehart (1977, 1990) describes as “cognitive mobilization,” women in Korea acquired the necessary skills and information to participate more directly and autonomously in national politics, although these changes had not yet been reflected in increased political participation beyond voting (Park, 1993; Lee, 2000). Any further success of the KWM and the introduction of women's legislation had to wait until other components of the RM model, that is, the growth of women's organizations and opportunities for collective action, started to transform social structure under democratization.…”

“…Women's groups, in particular, can use their freedom to organize to create strong associations that are well positioned to demand their place in the political system. Indeed, Korea has been regarded as one of the most advanced Asian nations in terms of women's legislation, despite women's extremely low representation in elected decision‐making bodies (Lee, 2000:188).…”