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South Korea: Aurel Croissant
Electoral Politics in
South Korea
Aurel Croissant
Introduction
In December 1997, South Korean democracy faced the fifteenth presidential
elections since the Republic of Korea became independent in August 1948. For
the first time in almost 50 years, elections led to a take-over of power by the
opposition. Simultaneously, the election marked the tenth anniversary of Korean
democracy, which successfully passed its first ‘turnover test’ (Huntington,
1991) when elected President Kim Dae-jung was inaugurated on 25 February
1998. For South Korea, which had had six constitutions in only five decades
and in which no president had left office peacefully before democratization
took place in 1987, the last 15 years have marked a period of unprecedented
democratic continuity and political stability. Because of this, some observers
already call South Korea ‘the most powerful democracy in East Asia after Japan’
(Diamond and Shin, 2000: 1). The victory of the opposition over the party in
power and, above all, the turnover of the presidency in 1998 seem to indicate
that Korean democracy is on the road to full consolidation (Diamond and Shin,
2000: 3).
This chapter will focus on the role elections and the electoral system have
played in the political development of South Korea since independence, and
especially after democratization in 1987-88. Five questions structure the
analysis:
1. How has the electoral system developed in South Korea since independence
in 1948?
2. What functions have elections and electoral systems had in South Korea
during the last five decades?
3. What have been the patterns of electoral politics and electoral reform in
South Korea?
4. What are the virtues and perils of the current electoral system?
5. What interests and strategies shape the discourse of electoral reform in
South Korea to date and do these reform proposals address the shortcomings
of the current system?
In order to discuss these questions, the analysis is divided into five parts. In the
first section, I desc