earticle

영어

This paper aims to examine the causes of successful political reform at the end of 16th National Assembly in 2004, which is known as the ‘Oh Se Hoon Election Law’. Political reform had been tried in every single year without significant progress. Path dependency of political institutions has been viewed as a main reason for the rigidity of the existing political structures, institutions, and behavior. Though numerous reform efforts ended up with no success, 2004 reform has produced a tremendous departure from the previous reform failures. This paper analyzes why 2004 reform efforts turned out to be successful from the perspective of historical institutionalism. By reviewing related literature and by having in-depth interviews with those who participated in the reform process, the author argue that the increasing voters’ power is the critical factor for successful political reform. Voters’ power in 2004 was in its apex because the following conditions have been met: 1) behavioral and institutional problems have been evolutionary accumulated, and external shocks stimulated voters’ disappointment and criticism against the existing politicians and institutions, 2) election was an immediate issue, so politicians had to pay close attention to what voters wanted, 3) voters’ demand for political reform has skyrocketed, 4) it became obvious that opposition to the reform would be a political suicide, 5) reform vanguards were in position to play major roles in the reform process, and 6) alternative ideas to replace existing institutions are in place and widely accepted by citizens and their groups. The 2004 reform has marked as a milestone for the Korean political history in the sense that it was a path-creating reform that has been led by the conservative party (the Grand National Party) instead of the progressive party (the Democratic Party). This has been the case because voters’ power was felt so powerful in early 2004, and it opened a window of opportunity for reformist politicians could play major roles in the reform process.

한국어

이 논문은 2004년 정치개혁에 대한 사례연구를 통해 경로의존적 정치개혁의 실패가 경 로창조적 정치개혁의 성공으로 변화된 원인을 분석하는 것을 목적으로 한다. 역사적 신제 도주의의 입장에서 보면 정치개혁의 어려움을 제도의 경로의존성으로 쉽게 설명할 수 있 지만, 왜 특정 시점에서의 개혁은 경로창조적 변화를 일으켜 개혁을 성공으로 귀결시키는 지에 대하여는 충분히 설명하기 어려웠다. 이 연구는 2004년 정치개혁과 관련된 다양한 문 헌연구와 당시 개혁과정에 참여했던 핵심인사들에 대한 심층적 면접조사를 바탕으로 사례 연구를 통해 정치개혁의 성공요인을 도출하였다. 연구결과, 1)정치와 정치인의 제도적, 행태적 문제점들이 진화적으로 누적되어 가다 가, 2)선거가 임박한 시기에, 3)국민들의 정치개혁에 대한 요구가 급속도로 증가하여 정 치권이 당리당략적 의사결정을 계속하기 어렵게 되고, 4)정치개혁에 반대하는 것이 임박 한 선거결과에 부정적 영향을 미칠 것이 자명해지면서, 5)기득권을 포기하고 개혁을 추진 하려는 개혁적 인사들이 정치과정에서 핵심적 역할을 할 수 있게 될 때, 그리고 6)국민의 일반적 합의가 있는 구체적 개혁안들이 존재할 때, 유권자의 힘은 정점에 이르고, 이러한 유권자의 힘이 정치권으로부터 기득권을 내려놓은 정치개혁을 이끌어낼 수 있다는 것이 입증되었다.