Institutional reform and democratic consolidation in Korea
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Institutional reform and democratic consolidation in Korea
(Hoover Institution publication, no. 461)
Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University, c2000
Available at 21 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Having undergone a transition from military authoritarian rule in 1987, Korea quickly became the most powerful democracy in East Asia other than Japan. But the onset of a major economic crisis revealed the dark side of the Korean model of democracy. With that crisis-and the subsequent election of the country's most determined opposition figure as president-serious questions have arisen about the new democracy's vitality. Institutional Reform and Democratic Consolidation in Korea examines the problems and prospects of democracy in Korea a decade after the transition from military authoritarian rule, including the key factors shaping the quality and viability of Korean democracy. The authors evaluate the reform agenda of recent years and explain:
Why the current electoral system is deficient in producing an effective government
How the current system of local government autonomy is in fact just a variation of past authoritarian central control-under the guise of democracy
Why Korea will remain vulnerable to renewed economic crisis unless it can better address the fundamental structural flaws that hamper its economic competitiveness and the integrity of its financial system
What steps have been taken to curtail the power of the deeply entrenched military, bureaucratic, and big business domination
Why the National Assembly is neither autonomous nor capable of managing internal conflicts according to the rules of the democratic game
How the Korean media moved out from under authoritarian government influence only to become diminished by a new commercialism and sensationalism
How a new civic mobilization among the people has deepened democracy and contributed to democratic consolidation in Korea
Why the previous government administration failed to prevent the economic crisis despite signs of troubled economic foundations
What measures the new government should pursue to resolve the economic crisis and revive this once-prosperous democratic model
Institutional Reform and Democratic Consolidation in Korea presents a wide-ranging and balanced account of the political, economic, and cultural factors shaping Korean democracy and of the institutional reforms that are needed to deepen and consolidate this crucial experiment with democracy in East Asia
by "Nielsen BookData"