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.     

俄罗斯民主化时代的政治腐败--再论"民主不是万应灵丹"

苏联解体后以叶利钦为首的民主改革派所推行的“民主化加私有化”改革,非但没有得到如民主崇拜者所料想的那种“清除政治腐败”、“倡行社会公正”和“振兴国家经济”的效果,反而使俄罗斯陷入了比苏联时期有过之无不及的政治腐败;其结果,导致黑社会组织横行无忌,社会公正被藐视和践踏,经济发展捉襟见肘,国际地位一落千丈的窘境。这种情形不啻是对“民主万能”神话的辛辣嘲讽,其原因有必要引起学术界的反思。     

Competition and Coalescence in European Party Systems: Social Democracy and Christian Democracy Moving into the 21st Century

Party systems in Europe have been in transition since the 1990s. New parties have emerged and appear more successful in gaining representation in parliament and government than before. Conversely the established party families in many postwar West European party systems ‐ Social Democracy and Christian Democracy in particular ‐ seem to have lost ground. We argue that an ideological convergence is developing between these two party families towards the ‘centre of gravity’ of their respective party systems. This may help to explain why ‘new’ parties of the Left and the Right have competed more successfully since the 1990s: they have bypassed Social and Christian Democratic parties in terms of both Left/Right and Progressive/Conservative dimensions and differences. These developments are explored by analysing party programmes. It appears that many Social and Christian Democratic parties are indeed often moving closer to each other. In fact, we conclude that being in the centre of a party system or in government is hardly an electoral asset any more in most West European polities.     

韩国政党与政党体系变迁动因初探

韩国政党体系的变迁具有鲜明的特点.自1948年制宪始,韩国政党政治的形态就呈现出宗派政治、帮派政治的特征,诸多政党在韩国政治舞台上不断出现和湮灭,韩国的政党政治未能发展到制度化的阶段.目前,韩国虽然实现了从威权统治向民主政治的转型,但由于长期受到传统思想、政治文化和南北分裂态势的影响,政党的变动依然十分频繁.本文旨在从环境因素、政治文化因素和制度因素的角度探析韩国政党与政党体系变迁的原因.     

Personal Politics and Being British: Political Rhetoric,Democracy and their Consequences in Colonial New South Wales

This paper argues that although our understanding of politics in colonial New South Wales in the period after 1856 has increased in recent times there is little appreciation of the political rhetoric employed to justify those politics. It contends that the key to understanding that rhetoric is an appreciation that politics was not understood in terms of institutional design but focused rather on the quality of political leaders. In particular, as exemplified by the case of Henry Parkes, it involved being British and being able to work British institutions. This emphasis on personal politics, rather than institutional matters such as the creation of checks and balances, helped to shape the nature of democratic institutions in Australia. In particular it encouraged a form of democracy that concentrated power. The refusal of members of the Legislative Council to oppose the Influx of Chinese Restriction Bill is an early indication of the consequences of that form of democracy.     

Contacting and Complaining: Political Participation and the Failure of Democracy in Russia

This article analyzes mass political participation as a factor contributing to the failure of Russian democracy. Data from public opinion surveys and firsthand interviews are used to evaluate patterns in Russian citizens' engagement in nonvoting political participation from the late Soviet era to the present. The article asks whether Russians expanded their participation in acts constraining elites, such as party-development work and protests, and investigates practices of contacting public officials, considering the implications of contacting for the deepening of democratic institutions. The factors contributing to patterns of participation, including the weakness of Russia's party system and the paucity of Russian civil society, are also discussed.     

从“自由民主”到“可控民主”:俄罗斯政治体制改革的经济学解析与启示

从"自由民主"到"可控民主"俄罗斯的民主政治改革引起了广泛关注.本文在梳理俄罗斯政治体制改革曲折历程的基础上,力图运用放宽了假定条件的"新比较经济学"分析框架,解读俄罗斯政治体制改革与经济绩效之间的因果关系.文章认为,关于俄罗斯实行"可控民主"制度原因的诸多分析中,历史传统回归论是正确的,所以"可控民主"在俄罗斯将具有持久的生命力.     

The Jammed Democracy: Bolivia's Troubled Political Learning Process

The fact that even the moderate and broadly respected president Carlos Mesa was forced to step down in Bolivia in June 2005 suggests that the country's crisis goes beyond a conflict on specific policies. A longstanding practice of excluding large sectors of the population from all real influence in politics, despite the existence of formal democracy, has produced a crisis of belief in democracy, affecting both governing bodies and the party system. President Mesa was unable to reverse the generalised distrust of politics. This distrust, combined with persisting political stalemate, is currently tending towards societal disintegration, which makes the recovery of genuine democratic practices even more difficult.     

泰国民主的前景:军权、法制、金钱与政党

2007年8月19日,泰国新宪法草案顺利通过全民公投,这是继泰国军方去年发动政变以来泰国民主进程重要的一步.宪法草案通过后,泰国政治局势逐步明朗,大选也将于年底举行.但是,回顾近一年来泰国民主政治的种种怪现象,泰国民主未来的发展走向不容乐观.     

The Australian Greens: Party Organisation and Political Processes

The Greens challenge the Australian two‐party system by promoting an alternative political agenda and by facilitating democratic processes. Their recent successes in federal and state elections suggest that the party itself deserves closer scrutiny. This paper shows how the Greens are organisationally different from other parties currently active in Australian politics due to both their internal processes and their parliamentary practices. Recent theories of parties argue that party organisation has changed significantly for major parties, adopting an electoral‐professional or cartel model that centralises power and decision‐making in party representatives within parliaments. This paper shows how a smaller party uses identity formation processes to establish a distinctive organisational style. We examine the Greens' party organisation by analysing the interdependent relationships between the party membership, the state and national offices, and Green MPs. The paper is based on original research including in‐depth interviews undertaken with state and federal Greens members of parliaments.     

The Indian Movement and Political Democracy in Ecuador

This article examines the implications of the Ecuadorian Indian movement for democratic politics. During the 1990s, the movement successfully fostered indigenous and popular participation in public life, influenced government policies, and became a contender in power struggles. But in the institutional domain, the participatory breakthrough had mixed effects. While the movement fulfilled functions of interest representation and control of state power, its involvement in a coup attempt demonstrated that its political socialization had not nurtured a sense of commitment to democracy. The evidence is discussed by reference to the proposition that civil society actors may or may not contribute to democracy. The article argues that the study of the democratic spinoffs of civil activism requires a context-specific approach that considers the particularistic orientations of civil associations and pays attention to their definition of means and ends, the institutional responses evoked by their initiatives, and the unintended consequences of their actions.     

The Poverty of Democracy: Neoliberal Reforms and Political Participation of the Poor in Mexico

Twenty years after governments across Latin America began implementing neoliberal reforms in earnest, concern is growing about their impact on the quality of democracy in the region. This article examines this issue in the case of Mexico by exploring how patterns of political participation, especially among the rural and urban poor, have changed since the implementation of free market reforms. It asks whether the institutional innovations associated with free market reforms make it easier or more difficult for the poor to participate in Mexico's political process. The answer is not encouraging. Despite democratic openings, the new linkages between the state and citizens established as a result of the transition to a free market development model stifle the voice of the poor not through the threat of force or coercion, but by creating obstacles and disincentives for political mobilization that affect the poor more severely than other groups.     

民主与政治稳定:印尼局势动荡与政权更迭的政治解读

印尼的局势动荡和政权更迭表明 ,在民主体制下 ,领导人个人的道德品行如何及对民主原则的认同与否、政党是否成熟、具体的体制设计与现实政治力量分布是否相互协调是影响一个国家政治稳定的重要因素。