• Korean Journal of Legislative Studies
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.5-33
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• 2020

Ahead of the 21st Korean National Assembly Election, the congressional election law was revised, and the semi-mixed member proportional system was introduced. The purpose of the revision of the election law was to increase the proportionality and representativeness of the election system through the institutional reform in the direction of promoting a multi-party system. This study shows that the effect of the introduction of the semi-mixed proportional system was compared with the election results when the previous proportional representative system was maintained. There was no significant difference from the results. This study reveals that contrary to the intention of institutional design to revitalize the multi-party system, the two large political parties took the most seats after democratization in 1987, resulting in an unintended consequences. In addition, with regard to the recent argument for party realignment, the Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam regions have been dealigned in the Yeongnam regional cleavage, and are undergoing a process of party realignment. It has not yet entered the stage of realignment, but remains in the stage of fluid dealignment.

• Korean Journal of Legislative Studies
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.29-54
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• 2018

Focusing on vastly different results between two presidential elections in 2012 and 2017, this paper examines how political attitudes of conservative voters had changed in 5 years and how these changes had brought about differences in their vote choices in 2017. Using panel data encompassing two presidential elections, this paper finds that, though ideological and affective evaluation of conservative parties and candidates had indeed deteriorated among supporters of Park Geun-Hye in 2012, it is candidate factors rather partisan ones that exerted much more significant influence on their vote choices in 2017. In addition it is found that the differentiation in political and economic policy preferences among conservative voters had only slight influence on their voted choices in 2017. This paper concludes with discussing how to understand the result of the $19^{th}$ presidential elections and what implications it has in prospecting the party realignment in Korean electoral politics.

• Korean Journal of Legislative Studies
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.35-68
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• 2021

In the German federal election in 2021, the Social Democrats returned to power by a narrow margin and the Green Party emerged as the biggest winner. The two political parties took the lead by proposing policies that met the expectations of the people in the policies of climate and environment, pandemic response and health, and labor and social security. The Merkel effect did not play a significant role in the election, and it is highly likely that it will lead to government policy after the formation of a coalition. While the class cleavage in voting behavior has weakened, the generational cleavage has grown relatively large. Older people showed more support for the two major parties, while younger people showed higher support for the Green Party and the FDP. If the generational cleavage continues, it can be linked to the growth of the Green Party and the FDP, the continued weakening of the two major parties and the emergence of other new parties. In addition, the regional cleavage between the former East and West Germany still remain, which will affect the direction of the AfD and the Left and combine with other political cleavages. The 2021 German federal election can be said to be an election that heralds the realignment of the political party system.

• International Area Studies Review
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.549-566
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• 2008

This study examines the effect of social conservative values that have risen as an important factor in American politics. Focusing on the abortion issue, it discusses how the abortion issue has affected American voters' issue and party preferences and their ideological orientations. The empirical results demonstrate that the abortion issue has contributed to reinforce the existing ideological and partisan divisions, although it has not realigned them. As a consequence, the abortion issue has become a significant determinant for vote choice since 1980s. Particularly in 1990s, when the polarization among the political elites became clear, the political effect of the abortion issue appears to be more evident.

• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.16
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• pp.168-206
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• 2001

This study attempts to examine the relationships between the major market-based media and the government after closing military regime era, 1961-1987. After the military regime was collapsed, while the mass media in Korea obtained independence and autonomy from government, they have been confronted with the terrible competition not so much comparatively as before. The watchdog role in the traditional liberalism, which is regarded as normative relationship between the media and the government would be transformed in accordance with the market condition and the maturity of democracy. Thus, the watchdog metaphor has been variously deviated in rower-centered society; lap dog, guard dog, attack dog. liberalists argue that the primary democratic role of the media is to art as a public watchdog overseeing the state. Social democrats, however, criticize them as simplistic conception which could be only applied to the government. They argue that the media should be seen as a source of redress against the abuse of all forms of power over others; the home, the economy, and the civil society. The lap dog view is that the media is overwhelmingly dependent on the established power structure contrary to the watchdog. While the guard dog perspective is a means to preserve the power structure alarming with playing 'conflict role', the attack do8 aims to the private interest of the media in intruding into the politics. The attack dog perspective by T. Patterson could be composed of the interpretive style of report, the game schema report over the policy schema in the election, and the negativism against politics and government. The market-dominant press has been likely to transform from lap-guard dog into attack-guard dog. In Roh Tae Woo government(1988-1992), while the press was a lessened lap-guard dog before three parties merger in 1990, after merger the press had been transformed as the reinforced lap-guard dog because this merger entailed joint, party-to-party negotiations, and the formation of the new party preceded by dissolution of the ruling blot. In the early stage of Kim Young Sam government(1993-1997), the press has kept in pace with the reform movement drive-forced by the government. However, the press withdrew the support of Kim's reform in reaching the level of threat to ruling bloc. The press coalesced only circumstantially with government and was interested in preserving some margin of independence. The failure of Kim's reform proved the political muscle of the press in post-autho-ritarianism. In the middle stage of Kim Dae Jung government (1998-) that resulted in the shift of power structure as once-opposition party leader, the stress has been a manifested attack-guard dog owing to the anti-cold war policy, the realignment policy of power, and the minority-base of Kim's government. The press has endeavored to hold political communication within limits relatively less threatening to the established order.