Suchergebnisse

Although Korea has made significant strides to strengthen its democratic system since the successful transition in the late 1980s as part of the "third wave" of global democratization, a look into the process of making budgetary policy in the National Assembly would suggest that Korean democracy is far from consolidation. Korean politics has shed itself for the most part of its authoritarian past, when the military was the main conduit of action and oppression. The principle of free, regular, and fair competition has taken root as the procedural norm in both national and local elections. Korean citizens enjoy civil liberties to a degree unprecedented in the authoritarian era, and civil society transformed into an increasingly open, transparent, and pluralistic field of political action.

From the point of view that legislative institutionalization is a crucial aspect of democratic consolidation, this article examines the institutionalization of the Korean National Assembly. The level of legislative institutionalization is assessed in terms of the national legislature's autonomy, formality, coherence, complexity and activity. The legislature has reasonably well-developed formal rules and internal organization. In its interactions with external actors, however, the legislature is vulnerable incoherent and ineffective. Owing to these characteristics, the level of legislative institutionlization remains weak. The legislature has to establish an independent political status and to manage internal conflict in an orderly manner. Legislative reform is necessary for making the National Assembly serve as an effective agent of democratic consolidation in Korea. (AJPS/DÜI)