Abstract
This paper attempts to describe the quality of local government and democratic citizenship in Korea through an analysis of political and social attitudes as well as the behavior of local residents in five selected cities. The analysis, which is based on an interview survey, reveals that there is broad support for local self-governance. Nonetheless, public perceptions of the efficiency and autonomy of local government are largely negative in nature. Popular involvement in local politics and voluntary associations is low, and a sense of citizen empowerment is lacking. Overall, the quality of local government and democratic citizenship in Korea is found to remain far short of democratic ideals. These findings, of the undergrowth of civic culture and social capital, indicate that grassroots democracy in Korea is still at the electoral stage, and not yet fully consolidated.KeywordsSocial CapitalLocal GovernmentSocial TrustLocal PoliticsVoluntary AssociationThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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