• Korean Journal of Legislative Studies
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.45-78
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• 2019

This study examines the relationship between individuals' perceptions on party conflict and affective polarization. It pays particular attention to party identification as a moderating variable. Using a survey conducted in the context of the 2014 Korean local election, the present study hypothesizes that perceiving serious inter-party conflict in the political arena is likely to increase negative feelings toward out-group political party among partisans only. Not only do the results confirm our hypothesis but suggest that conflict perception leads to affective polarization among partisan voters. This paper contributes to our understanding of the mechanism that links the attribution of blame to out-group political party for legislative gridlock with ever-growing affective polarization of the electorate.

• Korean Journal of Legislative Studies
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.103-139
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• 2019

This study aims to verify how trust in government leads voters' electoral participation with paying attention to their political orientations. In particular, this study takes voters' partisan consideration into account to examine different direction of the effect of trust in government on electoral participation depending on their ideology and partisan preferences. Key findings show that governmental trust has a positive influence on electoral participation for voters who have conformable ideological orientations to the incumbent government and positive preferences toward the ruling party. In contrast, distrust in government is more likely to increase the possibility of electoral participation for those who have different ideology from the incumbent, negative attitude toward the ruling party, and partisan preferences of the opposition party. Previous studies on the relationship between governmental trust and electoral participation have been mixed as yet. For the sake of explaining this inconclusiveness, this study focuses on partisan foundation of voters' political decision making. It contributes to our understanding of the political properties of governmental trust and its implications for representative democracy.

• Korean Journal of Legislative Studies
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.5-28
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• 2018

The recent changes in Korean elections are mainly characterized as the downfall of the Conservative party. It is surprising, considering that the conservative party gained the historical support from the electorate in 2012, just several years ago. This paper claims that the downfall of the Conservative party is mostly derived from the perceptual conflicts and inconsistencies in the mind of the conservatives. The findings show clearly both attitude conflicts for the conservatives and its effect of asymmetrical (in)activation of participation. As their preferences to the conservative candidate and party became weaken, the conservatives remained to be inactive participants in elections. On the other hand, the liberals could make political decisions easily, having popular candidate and preferable political party. It suggests that, in order to participate, the electorate needs attractive candidate as well as parties to support in election. To revive as an active political actor, the conservative party should focus on the search of attractive candidates for the conservative electorate and reform the party in accordance with ideological preference of the electorate.

• Korean Journal of Legislative Studies
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.135-170
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• 2018

The recent success of populist parties and candidates in the US and European countries leads to a massive amount of empirical research on populism, a deviant form of representative democracy. Much ink has been spilled to define populism and to identify the causes of its rise and continued success in democratic political system. However, little is known about populist attitudes of individual voters. Using a large-scale online survey fielded in the context of the South Korean presidential election in 2017, this study examines (1) what determines populist attitudes of South Korean voters and (2) how populist attitudes are associated with evaluations of political parties, candidates, and political issues. Statistical analysis reveals that people high on populism are more likely to support an underdog left-wing political party and its presidential candidate, and are less likely to support policies implemented or proposed under the auspices of the Park Geun-hye administration. These findings do not necessarily suggest the inherent affinity between populism and left-wing ideology; rather, it implies populist attitudes happened to appear in 2017, in reactions to lack of confidence in the previous government.