Abstract

This work traces the evolution of South Korea’s democracy, focusing on two interconnected questions: (1) what most aptly characterizes South Korean democratization; and (2) why has South Korea’s democracy evolved as it has.

First, it attempts to assess South Korean democratization with emphasis on descriptive inference. To bring order to the discussion, the author proposes a conceptual scheme that generates three distinctive characterizations: democratic completion, democratic erosion, and democratic stagnation. The author conducts a comparative empirical study to examine the validity of each portrayal with empirical data from other fellow third-wave democracies, showing that South Korean democratization is characterized by neither democratic completion nor democratic erosion. Interpretations of empirical evidence support the argument that the most suitable description of South Korean democratization is democratic stagnation.

Second, this paper deals with what best accounts for democratic stagnation in South Korea. Decomposing democracy into the elements of contestation and that of accountability, the author begins to uncover the uneven development between the two components of democracy. He also examines the validity of the constitutional design hypothesis and of the party system hypothesis in explaining the accountability deficit in South Korean democratization. The author concludes with the finding that South Korea’s democratic stagnation is attributable to the political party system that remains under-institutionalized.

Quotes from the Paper

"Departing from an authoritarian regime toward advanced democracy, a country may cross the first threshold of electoral democracy. Crossing the first threshold requires that the state have an essential attribute of democracy: contestation, or the extent to which government offices are filled by free and fair multiparty elections. Reaching the second threshold in the democratization process requires that the state acquire another attribute of democracy: accountability, or the extent to which government power is decentralized and constrained."

"It appears that characterizing South Korean democratization as democratic completion has little empirical foundation. At the same time, the characterization of the evolution of South Korea’s democracy as democratic erosion is also empirically unfounded…Unlike those countries that have regressed into authoritarian regimes on both dimensions…South Korea’s democracy has never crossed the threshold into the zone of non-democracy. In short, along with the Argentine case, South Korean democratization is most aptly characterized as democratic stagnation."

"…South Korea has the most desirable constitutional design of separation of powers in terms of minimizing the tradeoff between efficiency and accountability."

"It is crucial aspect of democratization that countries develop political parties that both serve an electoral role and hold the government accountable. This is the missing link in South Korean democratization that has prevented it from escaping democratic stagnation."

Author

Jung Kim is an assistant professor of political science at University of North Korean Studies (UNKS) and director for planning at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies (IFES) of Kyungnam University in Seoul. He is a lecturer at Graduate School of International Studies and Underwood International College at Yonsei University and an editorial committee member of Review of North Korean Studies. Prior to joining UNKS, he worked at East Asia Institute (2009-2013) and IFES (1996-2002) as a senior research fellow and held a visiting research position in Advanced Social and International Studies at University of Tokyo. He earned his undergraduate degree in political science from Korea University and graduated from Yale University with his doctoral degree in political science. He has published numerous articles in academic journals, including Asian Perspective and Asian Survey, and edited volumes, including Adapt, Fragment, Transform: Corporate Restructuring and System Reform in South Korea and Routledge Handbook of East Asian Democratization.