Das südkoreanische Wahlsystem und seine ReformAurel Croissant

ASIEN – Nr. 78 (2001) pp. 70–90

The article discusses one of the most important institutional reforms new democracies faces: the question why, how and when to reform the electoral system. Starting with a more general discussion about the functions of electoral systems and elections in democratic systems, the paper explores the working of the electoral system in South Korea. It will be shown that the functional weaknesses of the electoral system in South Korea are not related to its capacity to produce political majorities or to transform voter preferences into the representation of political parties. Contrary to this, the party building function of the electoral system is the weakest point of the current system. However, it will be shown that this problem is not very much discussed in South Korea. Even more, the reforms discussed in the reform discourse in South Korea do not seem to be very helpful for improving this capacity of the system. Therefore, the articles ends with some alternative reform proposals.