Authoritarian Industrialization and Democratization by Movement

Authoritarian Industrialization and Democratization by Movement Karina Chua, Caroline Manzano, Nazcar Pine

Table of Contents • Characteristics of Park Chung-Hee model of development • Social Support base of Park Chung-heeRegime • The Opening of Spaces for Democracy

Park Chung Hee - 박정희 • authoritarian ruler • man who industrialized the nation

State in 2 Levels • Infrastructure • Strengthened physical foundation & state hegemony • Government • Could not maintain its system because of the legacy left by premature democracy and the effects of the successful industrialization

Functional relationship between industrialization & political system • Bureaucratic Authoritarianism • Modernization Theory • Moore’s Theory on the social origins of dictatorship & democracy

Bureaucratic Authoritarianism • O’ Donnell • Establishment of authoritarian regimes through the economic variables i.e. the exhaustion of import substitution industrialization and the deepening of industrialization • The pivotal variable for a regime change was the explosive class conflict arising from the change in the nature & the level of industrialization

Modernization Theory • Lipset & Przeworski • Industrialization & economic growth bring about modernization • Economic development gave rise to the growth of middle class, spread of public education & civic attitudes instill democratic values & bring wider public participation in politics • Focus – long term shift in the value orientation & attitudes of society & individual

Social Origins of Specific Political System • Moore • A democracy, fascism or other types of dictatorship or revolutionary communist regime – decided by the early development patterns of modernization • Alliance between major social classes is of primary importance

박정희Regime • Modernized the government in its structure, mode of operation and actively organized its support base BUT • Authoritarian system • Rapid government led industrialization

박정희Regime • Massive reform of the state bureaucratic system • Reorganized the bureaucracies involving economic policies, including the establishment of the Economic Planning Board (EPB). • Established the Korea Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) • Target: Growth, efficiency, target achievement

박정희Development Model • Development method which was characterized by the absolute service to the policy objectives of the authoritarian power with closed-circuit & technocratic decision-making & implementation • Only function in authoritarian system • Militarism • Top-down delivery of orders • No questions asked • 빨리 빨리

What was the social support base of the Park Chung-hee regime?

The social support base of the authoritarian industrialization • Who supported the Park Chung-hee Regime? • Park’s regime created chaebol (재벌) • The seeds of chaebol were sown first in the aftermath of national liberation, during the US military occupation period, in the disposal process of the vested property • Second stage of early cable formation came after the Korean War (rapid growth of the import substitution economy centered on the three whites industry)

Chaebol (재벌) • Formed by a political power and by having access to the productive resources controlled by government • The government mobilized chaebol to implement the 5-year economic development plans on full scale

Urban Middle Class • Growth of this class was the result of the industrialization • Few in 1950s • Social Changes following the industrialization divided the middle class into “new middle class,” whose members were employed by large corporations in the city, and the traditional self-employed or petit-bourgeoisie • Political attitude are not simple to describe

Farmers and Laborers • Strongest supporters of Park Chung-hee regime • It was farming villages, more than anywhere else, where the changes from the effects of the industrialization were mostly directly experienced • Farmers were supported of the ruling party • No change from 1950

Political attitude • Political attitude of the workers took different direction from that of the farmers • The workers in the 1970s gradually began to organize and participate in the labor movement

Elections in two very contrasting periods (1967 & 1971 Election)

3.3 The Opening of Spaces for Democracy

Democratization by a mass movement • Park Chung-hee regime contributed to democratization in two ways: • Success • Without capitalist industrialization, democracy cannot exist. • Korea was industrialized and urbanized like the countries in the West. • Failure • When the regime abandoned democracy and adopted authoritarianism. • A strong democratic force emerged under the regime and finally ushered in democracy in the 1980s.

Democratization by a mass movement • The way to escape from the authoritarian regime was paved by the democratization. • Barrington Moore, Jr. argues that there is no democracy without “bour-geoisie” (chaebol in Korea). In the case of Korea, there is no democracy without a mass movement for democracy.

The legacy of authoritarian industrialization in Korean democracy • Impact of the Park Chung-hee industrialization on the democratization process in Korea. • Widespread influence of chaebolin society. • National economy is now controlled by chaebol. • Power was transferred to chaebol not to the people. • Chaebol began to develop as a state within the state. • A chaebol might own a business in production, distribution, service, leisure, education, culture, sports, mass media, and politics. • Its dominance in civil society is overwhelming. • Politics and business in one flesh.

The legacy of authoritarian industrialization in Korean democracy • Deeply entrenched bureaucratic authoritarianism. • During the transition to democracy, bureaucracy had transformed into a huge interest group and it had become a force of resistance against democratic reform. • Practice of authoritarian labor control. • Brings negative effects to: • labor-management relationsat the industrial level - it impedes the transformation and development of labor-management relations that would better correspond to the advanced production structure of capitalism in Korea. b. political participation at the political level - the existence of the authoritarian repression methods and the restriction of political participation by one of the core groups in society distort the entire Korean political system.

Collusion between power and the press • The pattern of the press growth in Korea has some unique historical characteristics. • 1950s and 1960s • The press played an important role in narrating and socializing the most important issues of the democratization and modernization. • The press enjoyed independence from state power (1950s).

Collusion between power and the press • The press criticized without reservation the authoritarianism of Rhee Syngman’s state power. • April 19 student revolution – coalition of the university students and the press. • Closure of the GyeongHyang Daily Newspaper – demonstrates the role of the press as one of the central force of the democratization struggles. • The press played a leading role in raising the issues of eliminating poverty and pushing modernization.

Collusion between power and the press • The critical role of the press was completely sealed off during the period of Yushin System/Constitution. • YH Incident - In mid-1979, a labor strike of about 200 female workers from the YH Trading Corporation led to the fall of the Yushin regime. • 1980s • The collusion between state and power deepened, and the press began to justify the authoritarian state where it became a serious matter. Some of the news companies now became giant corporations, results of receiving special benefits in exchange of press repression.

The Conservative Outcome of the Democratic Transition & Regionalized Party System Karina Chua, Caroline Manzano, Nazcar Pine

Table of Contents • Characteristics of the democratic transition in Korea • Democratization based on a “pact” and the formation of regionalized party system • Why demonstration culminated in conservative democracy

Democracy (민주주의) • June 29, 1987 • Declaration of democracy • Democracy by movement • Combination of student movement & 민중운동(民眾運動) with the labor movement at its center

Student’s role • Movement against • normalization of Korea-Japan relations • Constitutional amendment to allow a 3-term presidency • Anti-Yushin movement • Gwangju Uprising • Spring of Seoul

Growth of 민중운동 • Spread of education – understanding of democratic values & ideas deepened • The rapid economic growth under the authoritarian industrialization polucy in Korea shifted the Korean social structure profoundly toward modernization • > 민중 class • Workers, farmers, lower-middle class, urban poor • Alienated from the effects of modernization

Pattern of 한국 민주주의 운동 1. Student Uprising • Central force of the movement was the students, and the educated urban middle class – intelligentsia 2. Issue is not about freedom but overthrowing dictatorship 3. Brought down by non violent student demo 4. Students -> teachers -> unification

Pattern of 한국 민주주의 운동 5. Students & workers – central figures 6. Reform issues was not translated into policies 7. Movement focused on issues of political democracy -> receives wide-spread popular support from society

1960 & 1987 • Central force made up of students • Educated urban middle class strongly supported democracy • Primary issue was political democratization • Movement issues progressively moved from political democracy to socio-economic reform • Movement was separated from election-oriented institutional politics

Democratization based on a pact and the formation of regionalized party system

The origin and characteristics of Korean political parties • Transition to democracy is combination of a democracy achieved by a popular movement and democracy brought by a pact

Changes in the social foundations of political parties • Political parties of 1950s and 1960s were not capable of generating broad social support • Major change to the situation was the issue of regionalism that came from the Yushin system of the 1970s and erupted in the 1980 Gwangju Uprising • Regionalism is not a rivalry between two regions, but as a Honam problem

Honam Problem • The essence of the problem of regionalism in Korea. • Three component elements • Under Yushin system, Honam personnel were excluded in the make-up of the state and civil elite • Strong emotional bond existed between the masses in the Honam and Kim Dae-jung, the leader representing the hope of eliminating this regional alienation

..cont: Honam Problem • Three component elements • A collective experience of repression was formed in the Gwangju uprising

Regionalism • Dominant element in party politics after the democratic liberalization • A result of the political representation system molded largely by the Cold War anti-communism • Regional support was the political asset that could most easily be mobilized by political elites and parties to win elections

Regionalism • Result of the following set of selections that were made when mass mobilization became necessary in the wake of democratization and subsequent liberalization: • Unlike in many similar countries, the masses were not mobilized along the lines of class, vocational, and functional interest nd cleavages, which maximize nationwide the realm of political conflicts

Regionalism • Result of the following set of selections that were made when mass mobilization became necessary in the wake of democratization and subsequent liberalization: • Instead, within the old framework of the existing party system, the regions were vertically divided, and the masses were mobilized along regional axes

Two aspects of regionalized party system in Korea • In terms of party system, none of the parties in the electoral competition represented anything other than a conservative ideology • Structural characteristics of the party organizations

Hybrid party structure • A concept which highlights the union or mixture of different elements in the establishing a party. • Three elements in this union: • Ideological conservatism • Regionalism • Movement element

Transition to democracy and its institutionalization • In institutionalizing democratic transition, major political actors enter into a pact through political compromises, decide on the type of power structure and a framework of political competition through constitutional amendments, and carry out a “founding election” according to the new rules for political competition

4.3 Why democratization culminated in conservative democracy

Korea’s conservative democracy • 3 reasons: • The strength of the state • The two step democratization • The weakness of the movement and the weakness of the opposition party

The strength of the state • Institutionalization of the hegemonic authority is a very important aspect of a state. • The state is the central component responsible for carrying and practicing the governing norms. • In society, political parties are largely defined by the characteristics of the state, with restrictions in the social realm.

The strength of the state • There are only few empirical and detailed analysis of how much the role of the state influences the operation and transformations of the political system. • State hegemony is the power that maintains existing conservative order – power of the status quo.

Authoritarian Industrialization and Democratization by Movement