한국헌법의 역사적 이념적 기초와 헌법개혁 - 민주주의 이념의 한국적 유산과 한계, 그리고 모색

The Historical and Ideological Foundation of the Korea Constitution and Constitution Reform - Inheritance, problems, and Groping of Conception of Democracy in Korea

&nbsp;&nbsp;It was the most urgent and important national task to make a democratic constitution after liberation from Japan in 1948. But there were a few following characteristics in conception of democracy, due to the burning nationalism at that time: emphasis on common good, superiority of state power to civil society, pursuit of both efficiency and common good through power concentration regarding power structure, the narrowest understanding of essential elements of liberal democracy.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;Such an idea of democracy has almost lost its reality-regulatingstrength in so called democratization process since 1987. The main cause is that people who had been excluded from political process under the previous ideology have strongly wanted to participate in it and actually done so. It has brought the ideological confusions and the crisis of constitutional community. It is against this background that constitution reform is supposed to be needed.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;In this article, I propose that republicanism with some confucian qualifications would be the best ideological foundation of the needed constitution reform.