This edited volume assesses the quality of democracy in the Republic of Korea three decades after its formal democratization in 1987. It has been argued that Korea's two subsequent power turnovers prove that its democracy has been successfully consolidated, despite its tremendous progress; however, recent developments show signs of deterioration and retreat. Therefore, drawing on the recent quality of democracy literature this volume sets out to answer the question: Where does Korea's democratic quality stand today? The three chapters in first section of the book focus on aspects related to the presidency, political parties, and organized labor, also including the perspective of governance and human security as well as on the rule of law regarding the role and function of the prosecution. This is followed by a set of four chapters in section two that address the dimensions of democratic quality such as participation, freedom, equality, and responsiveness. The final, third section includes contributions on related inter-Korean policy issues. This book is an invaluable resource for political and social scientist working on democratic quality, and at the same for scholars in Asian or Korean Studies at faculty level as well as on graduate student level.

This book analyzes policy translation and its ends, how the concept of translation explains the emergence and (ex-)changes of policy ideas in different places and/or across borders in general, as well as the effectiveness of this concept in analyzing cases of actual policy dissemination. This book discusses these questions on a general theoretical level and within the context of actual policies and laws mainly between South Korea and Germany. South Korea is widely considered a typical example of a reforming country that is on the receiving end of disseminations of policies and ideas from advanced countries. From this point of view, it constitutes a highly interesting case for testing the applicability of the translation approach. The basic idea of this book is to analyze how different actors in different contexts and settings adopt varying interpretations and understandings of an idea, and how well the analytical concept of translation can be utilized for this endeavor.

This edited volume assesses the quality of democracy in the Republic of Korea three decades after its formal democratization in 1987. It has been argued that Korea's two subsequent power turnovers prove that its democracy has been successfully consolidated, despite its tremendous progress; however, recent developments show signs of deterioration and retreat. Therefore, drawing on the recent quality of democracy literature this volume sets out to answer the question: Where does Korea's democratic quality stand today? The three chapters in first section of the book focus on aspects related to the presidency, political parties, and organized labor, also including the perspective of governance and human security as well as on the rule of law regarding the role and function of the prosecution. This is followed by a set of four chapters in section two that address the dimensions of democratic quality such as participation, freedom, equality, and responsiveness. The final, third section includes contributions on related inter-Korean policy issues. This book is an invaluable resource for political and social scientist working on democratic quality, and at the same for scholars in Asian or Korean Studies at faculty level as well as on graduate student level.

Following the transformation of the Soviet-controlled Eastern European system, there has been a renewal of discourses on civil society. The collection of essays discusses this complicated and controversial concept and explores the possibility of new approaches for the study of Korean civil society and democracy. Combining interdisciplinary and transregional research, it contributes directly to the field of democracy after democratization and sheds light on concepts of civil society, developments of various civil society organizations and student movements in Germany, Korea, and Eastern Europe.

Die Beitrage dieses Sammelbandes behandeln ausgewahlte Facetten der gemeinsamen Geschichte Deutschlands und Koreas in Geschichte und Politik, Lebensumstanden und Migration sowie Kultur und Lebenswelten. Beide Lander verstehen sich jeweils als das Herzstuck Europas und Ostasiens und feierten im Jahre 2013 das 130. Jubilaum ihrer diplomatischen Beziehungen seit dem ersten offiziellen Vertrag vom 26. November 1883. Trotz ihrer geographischen Lage, geschichtlichen Entwicklung und weltpolitischen Bedingungen, gerade in jungster Zeit, haben Deutschland und Korea bis heute ihre teils recht engen, teils aber auch etwas lockeren Beziehungen aufrechterhalten.

Thirty years have passed since in 1987 formal democratization was achieved in South Korea. Since then the country has undergone the two turnover test (Huntington), and it overcame economic, financial, and political crises. However, social inequality is higher than before democratization, social conflict has been exacerbating, and political polarization has been on the rise. South Korea's democracy has been going through a continuous stress test trying the polity's capacity to heal social conflict, integrate society, and mature politics as meeting these challenges is key to sustainable consolidation of democracy. The chapters of this edited volume, written by experts from South Korea and Germany in respective fields, examine the way in which South Korea has coped with these challenges in its political system, political economy, and political society since its transition to formal democracy, and provide a focused critical assessment of three decades after democratization.