Report

Institute for Future Strategy, Seoul National University — Democracy Cluster
1st-Year Report

Across the world today, symptoms of democratic backsliding and crisis are increasingly visible, and concerns over the current state of democracy in Korea are no exception. Korea faces deep-seated structural issues such as distortions in political representation, growing socioeconomic inequality, polarization between political camps, widespread distrust toward the National Assembly and political parties, and a deteriorating media environment. Within this context, challenges such as national security, economic polarization, unemployment and economic revitalization, constitutional reform, political and prosecutorial reform, education reform, and sustainable energy policy are highly complex and cannot be resolved unilaterally or within a short time frame. Yet, instead of fostering social consensus, the political sphere has often amplified divisions, resulting in a politics dominated by hostility—what can be described as “political tribalism.”

This study diagnoses the erosion of public discourse as the outcome of the combined crises of political inefficacy and civic disengagement, and proposes a paradigm shift for the renewal of Korean democracy. It begins by examining global trends of democratic erosion and authoritarian resurgence, situating Korean democracy within the broader trajectory of world democracy. This comparative perspective allows for a multifaceted understanding of the challenges confronting contemporary democratic systems.

The study argues that while opinion politics merely reflects the arithmetic aggregation of private opinions, deliberative politics is founded on considered judgment—publicly justified decisions reached through dialogue and persuasion. As such, it identifies the expansion of deliberative democracy as a core strategy for enhancing the quality of democracy.

Specifically, the report discusses the necessary transformations on two fronts:

1. At the institutional and legal level, reform within political parties and the political system to enable genuine deliberation and accountability; and

2. At the civic level, the cultivation of an active citizenship that participates meaningfully in public deliberation and collective decision-making.

Ultimately, the study concludes that establishing a robust deliberative democracy represents the key pathway for overcoming democratic backsliding and achieving a mature, civic-centered democracy in Korea.

Keywords:
Democratic backsliding, political polarization, political tribalism, deliberative politics, opinion politics, citizenship, public justification