Political Crises after Democratization in South Korea and Thailand:

The purpose of this study is to explore the political crises that occurred in South Korea and Thailand while they were undergoing the process of democratic consolidation. Furler， it compares the causes and results of the p이itical crises in terms of the two countries pitic leaderships and civi1 societies. Generally speaking, democratic consolidation implies the practice of sub-stantive democracy in addition to procedural demoσa which focuses on electoral democracy. South Korea and Thailand -which were democratized in 1987 and 1992, respectively -implemented a number of political reforms including constitutional amendments and changes in their electoral and politic Pty laws. In addition, both countries held regu1ar competitive elections in order to ensure procedural democra. However, procedural democracy alone is not sufficient for achieving democratic consolidation. In both countries, the politic leaderships were not free from authoritarian customs and corruption, and thus they faced grave political challenges. Furthermore, with respect to the countries civil societies, unreasonable demands, resistance that tested democratic law and order, political apathy, and an absence of a democratic attitude in ordinary citizens invited political instability and crises. In particular, the attempt to impeach the president in Korea in 2004 and Thailand s mility coup in 2006 were important occasions in which the abilities of the countries politicalleaderships and civil societies were tested with respect to coping with a political crisis. Consolidating a new democracy after undergoing democratization reqres more than institutional and procedur며 democracy. Both the politicalleadership and civil society are required to accept a system of democratic law and order as the only and sole “ rule of gne and to intemalize democratic attitude and orientation in a substantive way.