Partisan Conflict and Immobilisme in the Korean National Assembly
Conditions, Processes, and Outcomes
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7527915 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Chan Wook Park (0009-0004-0212-2244, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1993 |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 5-37 |
| Publication date | 1993-09-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Asian perspective (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0258-9184 • E-ISSN: 2288-2871 |
| Publisher | Project MUSE (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1353/apr.1993.a921215 |
| OpenAlex | W4392957457 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
ASIAN PERSPECTIVE, Vol. 17, No. 2, Fall-Winter 1993, pp. 5-37 PARTISAN CONFLICT AND IMMOBILISME IN THE KOREAN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY: CONDITIONS, PROCESSES, AND OUTCOMES Chan Wook Park Introduction The members of a legislature are expected to reflect the interests and demands of their constituencies in the legislative agenda (Loewenberg and Patterson, 1979: 57-8; Mezey, 1979: 811 ). When their interests and demands are perceived to be incompatible, conflicts develop in the deliberation process. In some legislatures, the members readily seek the reconciliation of competing interests and demands, and the conflicts manifest ed in the conduct of the deliberative task remain relatively mild. By striking out compromises or accepting majority rule as a last resort, the legislators contribute to an orderly and effective management of the tensions originating in their societies. But in other legislative institutions, the legislators do not easily accom modate contending interests and demands nor do they fully acknowledge a legitimate role for majority rule in decisionmak ing. The conflicts often intensify. In most legislatures, political parties are a major type of organizational structure aggregating the interests of individual legislators into groups of interests. On the basis of differing objectives, legislative parties compete against each other for decisional inputs within the chamber. By doing so, political par- 6 Chan Wook Park ties serve as a key organizing force in the various phases of the legislative conflict process (Loewenberg and Patterson, 1979: 164-5). To a significant extent, the Korean National Assembly is an "arena" legislature (Polsby, 1975: 257-319) which provides for malized settings for the interplay between the governing party and the opposition representing their respective goals and objectives. Opposition legislators, although at times forced to hold back under the repressive national leadership, eventually have managed to speak out against the government. The oppo sition has strived to prove its will as a legitimate competitor for power. In this sense, the Korean legislature is a stronger institu tion than a typically symbolic and minimal legislature in a com munist or developing polity. Despite its significance as a meaningful institution of politi cal interaction, the Korean National Assembly has not yet firm ly established the tradition of a smooth and effective accommo dation between opposing parties. A basic difference exists between Korean and Western legislatures in managing conflicts within the deliberation process. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the conditions under which partisan conflict in the Korean National Assembly readily intensifies, and the ways in which such conflict escalates and deescalates. This study discusses the conditions, processes, and outcomes of legislative partisan conflict taking place mostly before the 14th Assembly period. In the concluding section, the prospects for partisan conflict in the current legislative period are briefly examined. Many studies on partisan conflict and consensus in western legislatures have typically focused on legislative voting. Data are drawn from individual roll calls (typically in American leg islatures) or parties' stands on cabinet proposals during the final division (in European legislatures). In the legislatures where vote-taking is well established as a legitimate mechanism of collective decisionmaking, the voting outcomes can summa rize the patterns of partisan alignment and cleavage (Collie, 1985: 471-518). In the setting of the Korean legislature, however, the exclu sive focus on legislative voting can never be a vantage point for understanding the nature of partisan conflict. In incidences of Conflict & Immobilisme in the Korean National Assembly 7 major conflict, the parties' interactions throughout the legisla tive process frequently deviate from the prescribed rules. The exclusion of partisan maneuvers prior to the vote on the final passage will leave unexamined several crucial aspects of parti san conflict, and lead to a distorted picture of the conflict pro cess. Two common voting methods are the voice vote and the standing vote.1 Over eighty-five percent of the bills passed in the 6th through 11th Assemblies were voted upon singly by the voice vote (Shin, 1985: 49). One may be misled to the conclusion that the Korean legislative process is highly consensual. In brief, a broad view of the whole deliberative process is essential for understanding the dynamics of partisan conflict in the Korean legislature.2 Internal Conditions for the Intensification of Partisan
Political science · Asian Culture and Media Studies · Asian Industrial and Economic Development · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance
| Citations per year | 0.21 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1998 - 2003 (6) |
| Highly cited | No |