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[8th EAI Academy] 5. Party Politics: Who Leads the Parties?
Editor's Note
Yoon Wang-hee, Senior Research Fellow at the Future Policy Research Institute, Sungkyunkwan University, diagnoses the changes and current crisis in Korean party politics and analyzes the structural causes behind the weakening of parties' roles. Senior Research Fellow Yoon argues that as Korean parties have become centered around elections, their original functions of policy coordination and representation have been reduced. In an environment where demands for direct democracy are strengthening, the necessity of party politics is increasingly diminishing. This trend, intertwined with the phenomenon of 'personalization of politics' where specific politicians become the center of parties, leads to fandom politics. To resolve this, institutional improvements are needed so that parties can function as forums for public discourse, not merely as electoral tools. It is emphasized that parties must be reorganized as spaces where citizens who strive to realize rational and pluralistic politics can actively engage.
YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKVnGNX9R7I
Video Script
Crisis and Structural Causes of Korean Party Politics
For nearly three years, the president has failed to establish himself as a politician. Whose responsibility is this? Is it due to a dictatorship in the legislature, or the ruthless rampage of the opposition party? I believe the primary cause lies with the ruling party. It is the ruling party's role to make the president a politician. Even if an outsider enters the political arena, they should be able to acquire political competence after approximately three years. This is a process that should occur within the party, but it is not happening at all. The reason is the same as the election method. Everyone exercises one vote equally in the party's decision-making process, and the person who obtains more votes becomes the party leader.
Becoming the party leader and the party's presidential candidate. That is how the primary election system works. The person who wins even one more vote wins, and that's the end of it. There is no reason why that person should be elected, and that's the end of it. Being elected president by a margin of 0.73% more votes is the end of the political process. The essence of the political process is that once power is acquired, one can enforce one's will with that power. This is because such a structure has been established within the party. What is more concerning is that this trend will accelerate further after martial law or impeachment. It is a last resort for the public to step forward and demand martial law or impeachment. The public can also take such actions.
However, on a daily basis, the party must fulfill that role. If the party does not fulfill that role even in normal times and only responds to direct democratic demands, it is abandoning its role.
Yoon Wang-hee, Senior Researcher, Future Policy Institute, Sungkyunkwan University.
Managed and Edited by: Song Chae-rin, EAI Researcher
Inquiries: 02 2277 1683 (ext. 211) | crsong@eai.or.kr
*This text is an AI translation of an original written in Korean. Some translations or nuances may be inaccurate.