The Digital Political Communication of South Korean Politicians

Heike Hermanns

doi:10.29379/jedem.v9i2.460

Abstract

The internet and social media have been credited with the potential to reinvigorate democracy by offering new avenues of political participation and communication between citi-zens and politicians. The results of empirical studies, however, call for caution, as many politi-cians refrain from fully exploring the interactive potential of new media. This case study focus-es on the web presence of Korean parliamentarians, using basic statistical analyses to explore the use of ICT as a means of political communication. It finds that Korean parliamentarians are less active online, treating ICT mainly as another channel for information distribution. It is thus concluded that ICT is not revolutionizing politics but reinforcing existing patterns of communi-cation that leave a gap between citizens and representatives. This paper was previously submit-ted to CeDem Asia 2016. The literature review and the methodology section have been expand-ed, and additional statistical data as well as further findings on Twitter were added.

Highlights

The theoretical debate on democracy and its components intensified in the final decades of the 20th century, driven by two seemingly contradictory developments, the rise in the number of democracies but a decline in the quality of democracy
Following the frame of other studies on politicians’ use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in established democracies, this paper looks at the social media presence of Korean parliamentarians and how they use such media to connect with citizens (e.g. Gibson & McAllister, 2006; Gibson et al, 2008; Larsson & Moe, 2011; Hansen & Kosiara-Pedersen, 2014, Sørensen 2016, Ross et al, 2015)
By 2016, Korean National Assembly members had established a presence on a wide variety of social media, but the key observation is the limited number of Korean parliamentarians who are active on social media beyond joining the service and occasional updates

Summary

Introduction

The theoretical debate on democracy and its components intensified in the final decades of the 20th century, driven by two seemingly contradictory developments, the rise in the number of democracies but a decline in the (perceived) quality of democracy. Falling voter turn-out, growing apathy and declining party identification as well as the rise of populist parties and movements were identified as indicators for this crisis The growing importance of the media in the 20th century, in particular, limited options of direct interaction between citizens and politicians and citi-. Critics note that political participation is often reduced to voting in elections, removing citizens from policy-making processes (Crouch, 2004). The direct connection to citizens weakens, leading to dissatisfaction with political processes and the growth of non-traditional political activities, such as social movements and boycotts (Norris, 2011). Chadwick, 2011, Gibson & Cantijoch, 2013) This invokes the need to change behavior and expectations by both political actors and theorists

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion