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

• Journal of Korean Philosophical Society
• /
• v.148
• /
• pp.49-72
• /
• 2018

In this paper, I tackle the question as to why the Confucian tradition in East Asia failed to generate democracy. In the first section, I discuss various forms of Confucianism and come up with a most suitable one before I define democracy. I then consider the view that, even though Confucianism, thus defined, had the democratic ideals, it could not generate democracy because it failed to secure democratic institutional structure. I call this view 'No Institutions' View. However, there are two versions of it. First, a thin version of the view holds that the theoretical resources are clearly found in Confucianism yet they failed to provide the democratic institutions. Second, there is the view (a thick version of 'No Institutions' View), according to which the theoretical resources do exist in the Confucian tradition, though only as potentiality and not as a historical reality, and this is why the tradition failed to produce democracy. Third, some hold the view (which I call 'No Ideals' View) that Confucianism simply lacks not only the practical institutions but also theoretical ideals of democracy. In the conclusion, I discuss the reason why I reject these views and offer my own view. In particular, I offer a hybrid view concerning the relationship between Confucianism and democracy.

• Korean Journal of Legislative Studies
• /
• v.23 no.2
• /
• pp.37-66
• /
• 2017

Massive civic protests and consequent presidential impeachment requires a serious revisiting to democratic theories of Korean democracy. This paper explores the strengths and limitations of macro and micro approaches. Changes in democratic realities was manifested on three fronts. First, the rise of new political subject, that is, participants to massive protest. Second, changing nexus between representative institutions and civic protests. Third, parliamentarization of presidential democracy. Specifically macro approach has changed its negative assessment of democracy into positive evaluation. Macro theory has to revisit it's notion of 'minjung' to cope with the rise of new subject. Also macro approach has to struggle with the declining role of civic organizations and political activists. Micro approach has to deal with new mode of networking among citizens and to unravel the evolving relation between democratic institutions and civic protests. In sum, theories need to expand the analytic scope, to revitalize analytic tools and to rebalance value judgment and analytical efforts.

• Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.23-41
• /
• 2010

In political science there is broad interest in whether a newly established democracy succeeds in overcoming the perils of democratisation and matures into a consolidated democracy or regresses to authoritarianism. Taiwan was under martial law for almost four decades. Democratic consolidation, therefore, is primarily a question of how to overcome the legacies of the former authoritarian regime. Nationalism and dysfunctional political institutions are some of the legacies that limit Taiwan's democratic development. The study of these destructive elements is important in the attempt to interpret Taiwan's most recent political history and to formulate effective democracy-building policies. In the following, I would like to address the aforementioned legacies and their implications for Taiwan's current and future democratic development.

• SUVANNABHUMI
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.271-303
• /
• 2023

In 1991, Malaysia, under the leadership of then-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, launched an ambitious 30-year national development program known as Vision 2020. The goal of this program was to transform Malaysia into a First World developed nation by the year 2020. One of the aspirations of the program was to create a psychologically liberated, secure, ethical, and mature democratic society. Vision 2020 is a failure and Malaysia is still not a mature democracy. This article identifies four main areas that make up a flawed democracy practiced in Malaysia, and shows how they work against the country's aspirations to become a developed nation. The electoral system is rigged to help the incumbent remain in power. The widespread practices of money politics have become a curse to the country. The press and media organizations are restricted. Civil society activities are suppressed. As a result of these issues, Malaysia will not be able to achieve the status of a developed nation, lacking democratic accountability and inclusive institutions.

• Perspectives in Nursing Science
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.52-64
• /
• 2013

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the utilization of health care of patients with lung cancer in Korea and identify determinants of these patients' health care utilization. Methods: This was a descriptive analytical study. The national medical fees claims data of patients with lung cancer were used. Using SPSS Statistics 20, the ${\chi}^2$-test and logistic regression were performed to determine the factors influencing health care utilization. Results: There were significant differences by sex, age, disease type, stage, comorbidity index, region of institutions, and type of institutions in the utilization of surgical procedures; by age, disease type, stage, comorbidity index, region of institutions, and type of institutions in the utilization of chemotherapy; and by age, stage, comorbidity index, region of institutions, and type of institutions in the utilization of radiotherapy. Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that democratic and clinical characteristics of patients as well as institutional characteristics affect health care utilization of patients with lung cancer. Additional research is needed to determine the factors influencing health care utilization of patients with lung cancer.

• The Southeast Asian review
• /
• v.23 no.1
• /
• pp.45-87
• /
• 2013

This paper aims to study Thai democratic deepening and the constitutional engineering with the analytical concepts of 'power sharing' and 'accountability' focusing on the 1997 and 2007 Constitution. With regard to power sharing, the 1997 Constitution had the characteristics of majoritarian principle including a two-party system, strengthening of prime minister and the executive's power etc. It enhanced significantly the aspects of accountability compared with the previous constitutions. The institutions such as Constitutional Court, Commission on Election, Administration Court, Commission on Human Right, Ombudsman, Commission on Anti-corruption, and the Measure for Anti-money Laundering were established by the 1997 Constitution. However, such empowered accountability system were often abused by the political power groups in the political process. The 2007 Constitution has the characteristics of consensual principle including a multiparty system, proportional representation system, weakened prime minister's power, balancing of cabinet and parliament's power, pushing ahead with decentralization. However, the consensual principle of the 2007 Constitution came, in part, from the factional interests. It is similar to the 1997 Constitution in terms of accountability system, which enhanced in law but abused often in practice. One of the critical reasons for the failure of the 1997 and 2007 constitutions to consolidate democratic system was the political game played around the so-called network for the monarchy composed by the military, the civilian bureaucracy, Constitutional Court and the privileged classes. The future of the Thai democratic deepening depends on the constitutional engineering in which the factional interests should be excluded, and the rules of power sharing and accountability which traditionally played around the network for the monarchy should be effectively institutionalized.

• Journal of Korean Library and Information Science Society
• /
• v.48 no.2
• /
• pp.373-403
• /
• 2017

The purpose of this study is to establish the classification principle of archives for the May 18th democratic uprising in terms of preservation and utilization of it and to develop an integrated classification system for it. For this purpose, it was carried out by the previous research on the classification of records and institutional case analysis. Also, we developed an integrated provenance-based classification system based on the practical analysis on the data held in 3 representative institutions in Gwangju. This classification system was proposed by facets of 'provenance-material-period-media-subject' type. We also proposed the collection-based integrated classification system that reflects on the expansion of archivists' role and the trend of times.

• Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.44-58
• /
• 2017

Scholars have long debated the factors that drive political participation and have recently applied theories, developed from analyses of citizens from Europe and the United States, to respondents in the democratizing countries of Asia. In both Hong Kong and Singapore, however, citizens attend rallies and contact officials - yet do so under authoritarian governance. Are the causes of political participation in these cities similar to what is observed in other groups of respondents across Asia? Or, do institutions influence whether individuals participate? In this paper, I evaluate the development of liberal norms of engagement in both cities as a function of traditional models of participation. As citizens in these cities possess some of the highest standards of living in the region, they should also face frustrations with the limited democratic accountability of their leaders. Ultimately, individuals in each city have developed support for democracy but, given the differing goals of each regime, the nature of democratic engagement differs considerably. In Singapore, citizens are mobilized to engage and participate but support the status quo. By contrast, engaged Hong Kong residents participate out of a frustration with the government, a function of their high levels of internal efficacy and institutional detachment.

• Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.57-68
• /
• 2014

How do party organizations respond to newly evolving social groups? Research on Indian party organizations reveals that in multiethnic societies with uneven modernization between social groups, internally competitive parties respond better to newly evolving groups. Moreover, it is claimed: the same dynamic works vis-$\grave{a}$-vis homogenous societies with cleavages based on economic differences; and, the pattern holds regardless of differences in electoral institutions. This study examines these claims by testing whether factional competition correlated with recruitment into Japan's Liberal Democratic Party in 1972 and 1983. Japan had a single-nontransferable-vote system with multi-member districts, while the research on India assumes a first-past-the-post system with single-member districts. This study conducts a difference of means test on the population of new and old politicians in the LDP in 1972 and 1983 with a pooled variance adjustment to account for differences in populations' size. The findings show that intra-party competition and recruitment are not correlated in Japan, thus tentatively rejecting both claims.