The Challenges of Democratic Consolidation in South Korea: Post-Election Politics of the Lee Myung-bak Administration

The essay begins with a brief survey of pathways toward democratization, followed by an analysis of Lee’s leadership performance and crisis management style during the first 200 days of his “CEO Presidency.” It raises the question of “Why Institutions Matter” to politics, by revisiting civil society organizations role, and “Why Social Capital also Matters” for making democracy work in South Korea. Promoting civil society activism is a necessary but insufficient condition for making democracy work. To support this notion the study turns to an analysis of the episode on how “de-legitimization politics” waged by certain civil society groups against the Lee government, during the anti-U.S. beefimport firestorm in the summer months of 2008. The legitimization challenge posed by certain civil society groups may have risked the danger of de-democratization of Korea’s Sixth Republic, as intended by key opposition political forces. Yet, the campaign for de-legitimization of a constitutionally elected Lee Myung-bak Government did not succeed.