This Korean Election Shows How Fragile Our Democracy Is
Our Economic Culture Has Isolated Us. Our Politics Have Divided Us. Now We’re Backsliding
More than three decades after South Korea’s democratic transition, we thought we had consolidated our democratic progress. We imagined that our democracy was strong and would grow stronger.
We are learning we were wrong.
We are learning that our achievements in institutionalizing democracy are weak because they were achieved in a top-down way, enacted by a president or other politicians. Our everyday, ordinary cultural behavior is not supportive of democracy. Nepotistic practices and arbitrary decision-making persist in our society.
As we approach the April 10 congressional elections here, Korea is seeing huge backlashes …
