• 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.

• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.183-216
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• 2011

이 글은 잠재적 이주노동자들이 거버넌스에 중요성을 부여하는 정도가 이주의도가 없는 경우와 비교하여 어떻게 다른지를 필리핀의 자료를 이용하여 분석한 연구이다. 2011년 기준으로 전 세계 인구의 3.2퍼센트가 국제이주자이며 이들이 본국에 보내는 노동송금은 4천 4백억 달러에 달한다. 기존연구에서 파악하듯 세계인구이동의 대부분을 차지하는 노동이주의 주요 결정요인은 출신국과 이주대상국의 소득격차, 기존 이주 네트워크, 이주대상국의 이주정책 등을 포함한 경제적 요인들이다. 그러나 대규모 송출국들이 대부분 경제적 저발전과 취약한 정부(ineffective government)의 구조적인 문제를 함께 가지고 있다는 점에 착안한다면 비록 경제적 고려가 우선시 되는 노동이주에 있어서도 잠재적 이주자들이 "정치적" 으로 여타의 사회와 구분되는 특수한 정치적 태도를 가질 수 있다고 생각할 수 있다. 이주자들의 정치적 태도를 올바르게 이해하는 것은 노동이주가 송출국에 미치는 정치적 영향을 분석하는 데 있어 매우 중요하다. 해당 이주자들의 부재와 이들이 본국으로 보내는 노동송금이 송출국 정치에 영향을 미칠 수 있는데 그 영향의 방향은 이주자의 기본적인 정치적 관심과 의제에 따라 달라질 것이기 때문이다. 이러한 배경에서 이 글은 다음과 같은 연구 질문에 답하고자 한다. 첫째, 이주노동의사가 있는 시민들이 취약한 정부능력에 대한 염려가 그렇지 않은 경우보다 높은가? 둘째, 이러한 관계가 성립된다면 그 관계는 민주주의에 대한 지지를 저해하는가? 이 연구는 2002년과 2003년 필리핀에서 실시된 전국적 설문조사인 Social Weather Survey 자료와 2008년 및 2009 년 필리핀 현지조사에서 수집한 인터뷰와 2차 자료를 근거로, 정부능력에 대한 평가와 이주노동의사의 관계를 분석하였다. 연구결과, 기존 연구가 제시하는 통제변인들을 감안하더라도 효과적인 정부운영이 필리핀이 당면한 가장 중요한 과제라고 생각할수록 해외로 취업할 것을 고려할 가능성이 높은 것으로 나타났다. 또한 다행히도 이러한 태도가 민주주의에 대한 원칙적인 지지에는 영향을 미치지 않는 것으로 드러났다. 그러나 효과적인 정부에 대한 관심이 이주노동을 고려하는 시민들에게 높다는 사실은 장기적으로 이들이 해외로 이주할 경우 정부개혁을 요구하고 추진할 국내적 정치적 기반이 줄어들 수 있다는 부정적 함의를 가지기도 한다.

• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.1-20
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• 2018

Southeast Asia witnessed a paradox of political stagnation and economic development in 2017. The 'dual order' of security dependence on America and economic dependence on China was sustained in East Asia. In this regard, Southeast Asia of two faces was quite similar to broader East Asia. On one hand, the old socialist group with totalitarian nostalgia lurked in the buffer zone between totalitarianism and authoritarianism, while the original capitalist group under democratic disguise roamed in the gray zone between authoritarianism and democracy. On the other, the old socialist group with the legacy of the planned economy succumbed to the temptation of the Beijing Consensus on state capitalism, while the original capitalist group with the myth of the market economy was exposed to the pressure of the Washington Consensus on liberal capitalism. The ASEAN Community representing the regional integration of Southeast Asia was caught in the strategic predicament of a looming 'new cold war' between the continental and maritime powers.

• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.273-295
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• 2017

The Philippines in 2016 showed the highest GDP growth rate among Southeast Asian countries, in spite of domestic and international turbulence caused by the war on drugs and unexpected foreign policies after Duterte's presidency. The social contexts and political dynamics behind 'Duterte phenomenon' have raised key questions and issues to other countries including Korea, as to democracy and politics in current neoliberal challenges. The Philippines' choices for independent foreign policy and challenges against existing hegemony would continue to draw attention, particularly on whether this would end in an experiment of a country or initiate an alternative power block among neighboring countries and ASEAN communities.

• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.1-44
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• 2013

This study examined the constitutional engineering of the Philippine democracy in terms of power sharing and accountability, and the effectiveness and stability of the Philippine democracy as a result were assessed. Based on the analysis, the nature of the present Philippine democratic system since 1986 was brought to light. This study argues that the system of power sharing between the President and the congress in the Philippines tends to serve for negotiating political interests among the power elites rather than functioning in a constructive way. And the public accountability system is not functioning as it was designed to do. Due to the defects the Philippine democracy continuously suffers the lack of political effectiveness and stability. Despite of the problem, the reason not to break down the system would be the fact that the system served for the oligarchic power elites to circulate and recreate the political power exclusively. The direction of the Philippine constitutional engineering should be weakening the present traditional elite dominated political system, and strengthening the chances of political participation from the various classes. Some concerned people suggested the constitutional change to parliamentary system in order to strengthening party politics, and federal system to cope with the problems of regional conflicts, but such efforts failed repeatedly due to the conflict of political interests. Considering the present circumstance, it would be advisable to reform political party law and election system in the direction of strengthening political party system, and to expand the scope of local government system in the direction of devolving the centralized political power.

• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.1-52
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• 2017

This study aims to compare the state building process focusing on the founding presidents of South Korea, which was a colony of the defeated state of World War II and the Philippines, the colony of the victorious state. To this end, it compares the lives of the presidents, mainly the founding president of Korea Syngman Rhee and Manuel Quezon who led the autonomy of the Philippines and established the Commonwealth government, in the contexts of the state building process of the two countries. In each country, the leaders had to address the core tasks for founding the states in common. Firstly, after the independence or the acquisition of state autonomy, both countries adopted a constitution based on the presidential system with the strong authority of the presidents influenced by the United States. Secondly, the two countries after the independence were operated on the basis of anti-communism at the forefront of the Cold War. In addition, they also carried out land reform to bring the peasants into the system for supporting anti-communism. Lastly, the two countries also faced the same issues of liquidating the Japanese colonial legacies. Therefore the study examines the establishment of the constitution, settlement of anti-communism line, the land reform issues, and liquidation of Japanese colonialism or occupation in each country. The Philippines attained 'constitutional independence' in 1935 and experienced political development faster than any other post-colonial country in Asia. However, except for the establishment of the constitution, the early leaders were not able to address the principal issues for state building. As land reform failed, landowners became economically and politically dominant. The Philippines, where the modern citizen class has not arisen suffered from the political and economic recession. In Korea, despite the Korean War and division of the country, the founding president Syngman Rhee attempted to solve the tasks. As a result, he was able to lay the track of liberal democracy against communism and also settled Japanese colonial legacy as much as it was allowed. In particular, through land reform, he has laid the basis for the nation-state and economic development and has set up the girders of Korean economy by adopting the market economy system. Although there are merits and demerits, compared with the leaders of other countries especially with the Philippines, it is no doubt that Syngman Rhee has played an essential role in establishing the state as a founding president.

• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.95-129
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• 2017

This study surveys and reviews political change, economic performance, and regional cooperation that were carried out in 2016 by Southeast Asian countries and ASEAN. This paper reports that what has followed the inauguration of new governments in Myanmar, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Laos fails to live up to the expectation and optimism that arose in the aftermath of elections and party congresses that took place in the first half of the year. In other countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, and Cambodia, where authoritarian regimes are faced with strong oppositions, the prospects for democratic change worsened to a substantial degree, as schisms and internal strives complicated the opposition camp as a result of instigation and intervention by the authoritarian leaders and their followers. In stable political systems, both democratic and authoritarian, no significant changes that may entail serious political implications were noticed. In 2016, the national economy of almost each and every country continued its slow but steady recovery that had started in 2014 and grew by 5% on the average. For 2017 onward, however, the earlier optimism that it would grow at least as fast dimmed down as uncertainty about the world economy looms larger due to the unexpected win by Donald Trump as U.S. president and the expected 'hard landing' of the Chinese economy around 2018. ASEAN declared the launch of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) only one day before the New Year, but its track record looked already bad and unpromising by the end of 2016. ASEAN leaders were tied up by their domestic politics and affairs too tightly to take time off to work seriously to observe the schedule as laid out in the AEC Blueprint 2025. Korea's relationship with Southeast Asian countries and ASEAN was "as good as it gets" in 2016 as ever but could become subject to tough review in the near future, if the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is found out to have been implicated in the ongoing Choi Sun Sil scandal and if the opposition wins the next presidential election to be held by this year.