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.’ 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 crisis of presidential impeachment? What implications does this process from the beginning to the end of the crisis have for Korean democracy after democratization? Particularly, this study focuses on the political leadership and the political behavior of civil society in the process of democratic transition and consolidation. With these