Challenges to the Theory and Practice of Polyarchy: the rise of the political left in Korea

Abstract

This paper provides an analysis of the development of democracy in Korea since the transition from authoritarianism in 1987, and its implications for critical analyses of Third World democratisation. Accounts of ‘low intensity democracy’ or ‘polyarchy’ have noted Third World democratisation for its constrained and elite-centred nature, and as an outcome of US foreign policy, which has sought to demobilise restive popular movements and extend the reach of global capital. However, the Korean general elections of 2004 saw the historic entry of the explicitly socialist Korean Democratic Labour Party (kdlp) into the National Assembly. A re-examination of post-authoritarian politics in fact shows a process of continuous contestation that belies the claims made by the polyarchy literature. Formal democratisation has by its very nature allowed for a counter-movement to be mobilised. The paper also examines the relationship between the kdlp and the mass labour union movement and argues that, while democracy has provided opportunities for participation by previously marginalised social forces, concomitant neoliberal restructuring has limited the development of the mass movements from which such political projects draw their strength. Thus, inquiry into the implications of democratisation for a progressive challenge to neoliberal capitalism must also extend beyond ‘politics’ to mass movements in the socioeconomic sphere.

Notes

The author would like to thank Vladimir Tikhonov, Owen Miller, Claire Cutler and two anonymous reviewers for Third World Quarterly for their critical comments on earlier versions of this paper. The author would also like to express gratitude to the Economic and Social Research Council for the award of a Postdoctoral Fellowship (Award No PTA-026-27-0958), which provided the funds for the field research upon which this paper was based.

1 See, for example, Giuseppe Di Palma, To Craft Democracies: An Essay on Democratic Transitions, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press; Guillermo O'Donnell, Philippe C Schmitter & Laurence Whitehead (eds), Transitions from Authoritarian Rule: Prospects for Democracy, Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University, 1986; and Adam Przeworksi, Democracy and the Market: Political and Economic Reforms in Eastern Europe and Latin America, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.

2 Przeworksi, Democracy and the Market, p 98.

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4 William Robinson, Promoting Polyarchy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996, p 41.

5 S Amin, ‘The issue of democracy in the contemporary Third World’, in B Gills, J Rocamora & R Wilson (eds), Low Intensity Democracy: Political Power in the New World Order, London: Pluto, 1993, p 60.

6 Robinson, Promoting Polyarchy, p 54.

7 Ibid.

8 B Gills, J Rocamora & R. Wilson, ‘Low intensity democracy’, in Gills et al, Low Intensity Democracy, pp 3 – 34.

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11 B Gills, ‘Korean capitalism and democracy’, in Gills et al, Low Intensity Democracy, p 235.

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16 Minjung is a category that extends beyond ‘social class’ and broadly refers to ‘the people’. The Minjung movement was a political, social and cultural movement that sought to challenge the structures of authoritarianism, national division and neo-imperialism on the Korean peninsula. See K Wells (ed), South Korea's Minjung Movement: The Culture and Politics of Dissidence, Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i, 1996.

17 Gills, ‘Korean capitalism and democracy’, pp 238 – 239.

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27 Robinson, Promoting Polyarchy, p 61.

28 There were many within the nl camp who went as far as accepting the Juche categories of Suryôn'gwan (the Supreme Leadership, Kim Il-sung) and Hugyejaron (the theory of legitimate heir, Kim Jong-Il), although this was a contested issue. They did not initially support the building of a labour party in South Korea because they recognised only the legitimacy of the (North) Korean Workers' Party.

29 M Park, ‘Reflexivity, historicity and the framing of the lived experience in social movements in South Korea’, pp 95 – 99.

30 Ibid, pp 105 – 108.

31 ‘People's Party’ and ‘Minjung Party’ are my own translations. In Korean, their names are almost identical: Minjungûi dang and Minjungdang, respectively.

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33 See Gills, ‘Korean capitalism and democracy’, pp 248 – 253.

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35 Bômsang Yu, Han'gukûi nodongyinyôm—yinyômûi kwainggwa sot'ongûi pingon (Korean labour ideology: surplus of ideology, poverty of communication), 2005, pp 295 – 301, available at http://www.kli.re.kr/, accessed 1 May 2006.

36 Kevin Gray, Korean Workers and Neoliberal Globalization, London: Routledge, 2008.

37 Sonn Hochul, ‘The “late blooming” of the South Korean labour movement’, Monthly Review, July – August 1997, p 126.

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39 Yu, ‘Korean labour ideology’, p 320.

40 Kim Se-Kyun, ‘Nodongja kyegûbûi chôngch'iseryôkhwawa 97 taesônbanch'im’ (The political empowerment of the working class and the plan for the 1997 presidential election), Hyôngjangesô miraerûl (From the Workplace to the Future), 23, 1997, pp 75 – 82.

41 Yu, ‘Korean labour ideology’, p 344.

42 ‘Yôllinuri kwabansuûisôk hwakbo’ (Uri Party gets over half of seats), Hangyoreh, 16 April 2004.

43 Yeonho Lee & Yoo-Jin Lim, ‘The rise of the Labor Party in South Korea: causes and limits’, Pacific Review, 19 (3), 2006, pp 319 – 323.

44 David I Steinberg & Myung Shin, ‘Tensions in South Korean political parties in transition: from entourage to ideology?’, Asian Survey, 42 (4), 2006, p 531.

45 Hong Yong Lee, ‘South Korea in 2003: a question of leadership?’, Asian Survey, 44 (1), 2004, pp 130 – 138.

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48 Interview with Choi Jang-Jip, Director of Asiatic Research Center, Korea University, 28 December 2005.

49 Interview with Bae Jun Beom, dlp International Officer, 26 December 2005.

50 Young-Il, Lim, ‘Nodongundonggwa nodongjôngch'i: minjunodongdangûl chungshimûro’ (The labour movement and labour politics), Kyôngjewa Sahoe (Economy and Society), 64, pp 70 – 74.

51 Editorial Board, ‘Minjunodongdang ûihoejinch'ulgwa chwap'ajongch'iûi panghyan’ (The Democratic Labour Party's entry into the National Assembly, and the direction of leftist politics), Chinbop'yôngnon (Progressive Critique), 21, 2004, p 22.

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53 Interview with Bae Joon-Beom, International Officer of the kdlp, 26 December 2005.

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58 Interview with Prof. Kim Se-Kyun, Korean Institute for Labour Studies and Policies, 20 May 2004.

59 Se-Kyun, ‘The political empowerment of the working class and the plan for the 1997 presidential election’.

60 John Markoff, Waves of Democracy: Social Movements and Political Change, Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press, 1996, p 134.