• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.77-114
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• 2018

The purpose of this article is to verify whether recent political change in Thailand and the Philippines is temporarily shown "democratic recession" or "returning to authoritarianism". For the purpose this research establishes three propositions based on previous academic researches of political change. The is to verify characteristics of liberal democracy based on democratic procedures and institutions as well as civilian control over the military. The is to analyze the characteristics of authoritarianism such as the control over individual freedom and rights, concentration of power, and populist ruling behavior contrary to constitutionalism. The last one, , is to check either the coincidence or discrepancy between democratic institutions and popular understanding of democracy during democratic transitions. The finding through testing those propositions is that recent political change in two countries is more likely "returing to authoritarianism" rather than provisional "democratic recession". Implications of the finding has two aspects. One is that the only change in democratic procedures and institutions including the competition among political parties and peaceful change of governments are not enough to ensure a successful transition to liberal democracy. The other is that a half-democracy lacking the change of popular understanding and belief toward democracy as well as democratic practices cannot survive long enough. These are confirmed through this study on the cases of Thailand and the Philippines.

• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.60
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• pp.5-27
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to explore the journalist Song Kun-Ho's ideas of Korean Journalism. The journalist Song Kun-Ho was born in 1926 and passed away in 2001. He became a reporter in 1953 when he was a student at department of law of Seoul National University. He has worked for several media and resigned the executive editor at the Dong Ah Ilbo in 1975. At that time, while many reporters of the Dong Ah Ilbo struggled for the freedom of the press, he tried to protect reporters and independence of media. After his resignation of the executive editor, he wrote many columns and several books for Korean nationalism and the democracy of journalism. Instead of working for the authoritarian military regime, he chose a lonely and rough life as an intellectual journalist in action. Finally, he, as a president, established the Hankyoreh daily newspaper which was funded by tens of thousands citizens. He passed away in 2001. His ideas of Korean journalism are nationalism, democracy, and independency. These ideas are very important to restore democratic journalism which has been at risk during the Lee Myung-bak administration.