Abstract
The party system and party cleavages in South Korea have been examined in this thesis. Focus has been placed on the two main characteristics of the party system and party cleavages. First, the lack of left-right polarisation in the party system. Second, the dominance of regionalism as a party cleavage. In this quest, as a point of departure, a sociological approach, which is based on Stein Rokkan s historical-developmental approach is adopted. The study was carried out following Stein Rokkan s contention that the development of system of political parties can be traced back into a number of economic, social, geographical and cultural cleavages that determine the configuration of the parties in a particular country. The study has been carried out from an analysis of secondary literature that provide explanations for the two main characteristics of the party system and party cleavages in South Korea. In doing so, I have briefly looked into the pre-independence political history, the party system and the development of the economy in South Korea. A discussion on the differences in the development of political parties and cleavages in the Western European countries and in the Asian countries is presented. Being one of the East Asian NICs, South Korea is a typical example of the region. This is an important factor for examining whether Rokkan s approach can be applicable to the other areas of the world. More precisely, to what extent Rokkan s theory is applicable in explaining the development of political party system and party cleavages in East Asian countries.
1) Explaining the lack of left-right polarisation in the party system: A general factor in East Asian countries.
This phenomenon is neither simple nor easy to explain. In chapter three, I have pointed out three factors that have delayed the political development in Asia to explain this phenomenon. The three factors are Colonialism, the Cold War and retarded economic development. In sum, these three major factors are rather complicated. In a way they are intertwined with other factors. Moreover, these factors do not provide good sociological explanations pertaining to patterns of social conflict in the country or the individual country s particular historic, economic, social and cultural characteristics. The institutional factors such as international setting under the Cold War or the particular regime type and even the ability of leaders to define politics in a particular way are rather more important in explaining the lack of left-right polarisation in the party system.
2) Explaining the dominance of regionalism as party cleavage: Reflecting social disparities
In explaining the dominance of regionalism as party cleavage in chapter four I have cited out four explanations; regional economic disparity, regional disparities in the recruitment of ruling elites, political culture and regional consciousness and electoral competition. All explanations except the political culture element are related to social and economic structure in the South Korean society. In this respect, the sociological approach is applicable for explaining the dominance of regionalism as a party cleavage. It should however be mentioned that the social disparities and conflicts between the different regions were created by the various institutional factors such as political regime, political leader and the implementation of policy in particular.
3) To what extent is Rokkan s theory applicable in explaining the development of party system and party cleavages in South Korea or even in East Asian countries?
Rokkan s theory, particularly in relation to the features of drafting region-specific models and retrospective diachronic analysis, can be of use in both finding the structural features of already finalised developmental paths and monitoring or even predicting the developmental process to come. Furthermore, Rokkan s theory is very useful for applying sociological approach without isolating possible institutional explanations.