韩国的地方选举和政党参与

以＂宪法＂和＂地方自治法＂为准绳,韩国实行地方自治制度,以团体自治和居民自治相结合的自治模式,由选举产生的各级地方议会、政府具体行使自治权。20世纪50年代,韩国经历了短暂的、不完全的地方自治,之后中断了31年。自20世纪90年代至2010年6月,韩国共举行了5次地方选举。韩国政党通过推荐或支持候选人参与教育监和教育议员以外的地方自治团体首长和地方议员的选举,积极地介入地方自治的整个过程,从另外一个侧面反映出了韩国政党的参政方式和特点。     

韩国的选举制度与政治体制

本文旨在分析韩国的选举制度如何加大了社会的不平等现象。1997年金融危机之后,韩国社会迅速走上两极化道路。本文分三个层次进行论述。一是简要介绍韩国的选举制度。这将作为支撑本文核心见解的框架。二是考察韩国选举制度导致的＂民心歪曲＂现象。三是探讨政治制度的党派特征。即使同为民主主义,但选择比例代表制还是多数制将决定其政策方向。最后,在结论部分中强调,若要使韩国的选举制度取得更加均衡的政治结果,就一定要取消现行多数制,采用比例代表制度。比例代表制将有助于实现得票和议席之间的均衡,并进一步创造平等的民主主义。     

韩国政治发展中的美国因素

二战后,在美国的扶植下,民主制度在韩国以宪法形式正式确立下来,此后,在制度层面和法律条文上,民主制成为唯一合理的政治体制。但是,由于国际因素的影响,尤其是美国的介入,韩国政治发展和民主转型经历了颇为艰难的过程。韩国政治变迁是国际政治国内化的一种反映。由于朝鲜半岛南北分裂,韩国必须长期仰赖美国的军事保护、经济援助和政治支持,这种战略需求,使美国成为影响韩国政治走向的关键因素。美国对韩国政治发展的影响以美韩政治关系为基础,美韩关系的基本内容和特点决定了美国对韩国政治发展影响的内容、方式和限度。     

Limited Pluralism in a Liberal Democracy: Party Law and Political Incorporation in South Korea

ABSTRACT

Formal modes of political incorporation in South Korea rest on a foundation of limited pluralism. The notion that the state should impose rigid boundaries on political representation pervades the country’s democracy. This notion is enshrined in law – in particular in the constitution’s Article 8 and in the Political Parties Act – and is upheld and perpetuated by the judiciary, the election commission, and the parties that dominate representative institutions. Labour is particularly disadvantaged by the limited pluralism contained in party laws. The role of party law in shaping modes of political incorporation is frequently overlooked. This account of party law in South Korea echoes this issue’s attention to the quiet ways that the state in Asia has silenced or ignored particular groups while maintaining the formal institutions of electoral democracy. In this case, the effect is to facilitate a rightward drift by the state as left-leaning actors face greater challenges in contesting elections.     

Financial liberalization in South Korea

This article analyzes the process of financial liberalization in South Korea from the perspective of financial globalization through an international political economic approach. Korean financial liberalization has been highly influenced by the outside pressure of the United States, the OECD and the IMF, as well as by the big business conglomerates (chaebols), as a powerful domestic interest group. In a broad perspective, South Korea's entrance into the OECD, the Financial Services Agreement under the WTO and the Structural Adjustment Program of the IMF after the 1997 financial crisis were important moments for Korea's financial reforms. There are two viewpoints on the causes of the Korean financial crisis. From a domestic viewpoint, South Korea had a weak financial market system and its financial liberalization process was too premature to create a stable financial market when Korea met the financial crisis. In a globalization perspective, financial globalization intrinsically encourages uncontrollable short-term financial capital flows across borders, thus financial crisis is inevitable regardless of a strong or weak domestic financial system. This article compares these two viewpoints in the case of South Korea.     

试析宗教对韩国总统选举的影响

韩国宪法虽然确立了"政教分离"的原则,但现实中宗教因素渗透到了政治中,并对总统选举造成了明显的影响。总统候选人的宗教信仰、选民的宗教信仰以及宗教团体在选举过程中的宣传游说,都影响到总统选举的最终投票结果。目前,宗教因素在韩国总统选举中已经由一个"独立变量",发展为一个"非独立变量",但其影响将长期存在。     

国际体系变迁与战后韩国政治发展

国际体系是国际行为体之间依据某些原则所形成的排列组合和内在联系;从层次分析出发,可将国际体系分为三个层面,全球层面、区域层面和国家层面（某些分裂国家）,韩国民主化就是在朝鲜半岛南北分裂的情况下进行的。20世纪80年代末90年代初,柏林墙倒塌、苏联解体、东欧剧变．冷战体系宣告终结,国际体系从冷战时期的两极体系逐渐转变为以美国为主的一超多强体系;在国际体系变迁的过程中,韩国的政治发展随之展开。鉴于朝鲜半岛的地缘战略地位,无论是冷战时期还是后冷战时期,韩国一直处于大国角逐的前沿阵地,政治发展过程带有明显的国际影响的特点。     

Political Issues, Generation Gap, and Voting Behavior in South Korea: The 2010 Seoul Mayoral Election

Against all odds, South Korea's 2010 local elections were a landslide victory for the coalition of the opposition political parties. This article aims to provide an insight on the dynamic nature of Korean elections and politics by using a public opinion survey in Seoul's mayoral election as a case study. This article finds that the "north wind" triggered by the sinking of the South Korean battleship Cheonan helped the ruling party candidate, but not as much as the ruling party had hoped. Furthermore, a high turnout of the younger voters helped the opposition party candidate by showing a clear generation gap in terms of the important issues, ideology, and party orientation.     

Labor and democratization in South Korea and Taiwan

The article examines the recent work by Rueschemeyer et. al. (1992) and revisits the classic issue of the social basis of democracy. It argues that Rueschemeyer et al. are biased in their definition of democracy, have focused too narrowly on the postures of individuals classes, and have produced a one-sided picture of the role of the workers in democratization. Using the experiences of South Korea and Taiwan, the article argues that the extent of workers's involvement in the democratic struggle depends on their experiences of state domination. The latter, in turn, is influenced by the workers' market positions and the nature of the labor regime in question. The article also argues that workers affect democratization in a macro-structural sense, both by influencing the agenda of the oppositional movement and by shaping the contour of socio-political conflict of society.     

Freedom of Expression in South Korea

South Korea is widely considered a consolidated democracy, but there is growing evidence that freedom of expression in South Korea has lagged behind that of comparable Asian countries and that it has deteriorated since 2008. Freedom House downgraded South Korea’s “freedom of the press” status from “free” to “partly free” in 2010 and other international reports also raised concerns on the status of freedom of expression in the country. We identify five problems that have contributed to the deterioration in South Korea’s rankings with respect to civil liberties: abuse of criminal defamation, the rules governing election campaigns, national security limitations on free speech, restrictions related to the internet and partisan use of state power to control the media. We close by considering possible explanations of the phenomenon, ranging from more distant cultural factors and the influence of the Japanese legal systems through the enduring impact of the Cold War. However, the main problems appear political. Governments on both the political right and left have placed limits on freedom of expression in order to contain political opposition, and constitutional, legal and political checks have proven insufficient to stop them.     

韩国国内的经济民主化论战及问题

经济民主化是一个非常模糊的概念.“民主化”意味着在政治领域的平等,而“经济”则被认为是以市场为前提的概念,是有竞争力的企业生存、没竞争力的企业淘汰的差别化系统.因此,经济领域的民主化可能会带来严重破坏市场系统本身的后果.最近韩国政界提出的以财阀所有结构改革为中心的经济民主化法案可能会造成韩国财阀的全球竞争力萎缩,因而给整个社会带来不良影响.     

Precarious Elderly Workers in Post-Industrial South Korea

This article examines how the combination of immature welfare state and expansion of the service economy, in particular, contributes to the precariousness of the elderly labour market in South Korea where nearly half of the elderly live below the poverty line. It completes an empirical analysis of how elderly workers in Korea are participating in the labour market and examines their situation using a conceptualisation of “precariousness.” It is explained how the elderly in an immature welfare state are pushed into bad jobs resulting in a large number of precarious “elderly workers” in an economically advanced country. Results of the statistical analysis suggest that, due to severe precariousness, the Korean elderly are unable to escape from poverty even though they work. Also, gender segregation of precariousness in the service industry has been exacerbated in the elderly labour market. Structural change such as the rapid transition to a service-oriented economy has a greater impact on elderly women than middle aged or elderly men because elderly women tend to have lower skill levels and shorter careers, mainly entering service occupations where the bad jobs are concentrated.     

Anti-American,pro-Chinese sentiment in South Korea

Anti-American, pro-Chinese sentiment is spreading widely in South Korea. This phenomenon is caused by extreme US-ROK policy dissension over matters related to North Korea, especially the nuclear questions, and South Korea's emotional attachment for China based on historical and geopolitical factors. In order to prevent this irrational situation from damaging the mutual interests of both Washington and Seoul, the two capitals should come up with mutually acceptable options for nuclear issues—placing more gravity and priority on dialogue over sanctions as a matter of strategy. Coercive measures can be employed only as a last resort. In order to maintain peace, to fulfill the political responsibility as a great power in East Asia, and to reciprocate to South Korea's positive expectation, Beijing should play a more constructive role in resolving the North Korean nuclear issues and in inducing Pyongyang to open up and reform more aggressively.