[기획논문] 한국 민주주의의 제도디자인 서설

최장집(Choi Jang Jip) 고려대학교 아세아문제연구소 2003 亞細亞硏究 Vol.46 No.4

The purpose of this article is to examine preconditions of institutional reform that would nurture the development of Korean democracy. Proposals and suggestions have been made since the country's transition to democracy in 1987 to introduce institutional arrangements for redressing the polity's defects. They have been brought up on political discourse in the context of partisan calculation, anti-corruption, neoliberal rendering of politics, and anti-regionalism. As a result, discussions on institutional reform tend to ignore deeper sources of the new democracy's instability such as a cartelized party system with tenuous ties to social cleavages. Instead of searching for a remedy from the institutional menu, I provide an account of three principles for institutional design-participation, representation, accountability--that would serve as yardsticks against which the quality of democracy is measured. Emphasis on those three principles indicates my understanding that institutional reform should not be directed toward specific institutional alternatives imported from outside the existing polity. Rather, our attention must be paid to democracy as a complex set of partial regimes that address various dimensions of social conflict. Preoccupation with institutions themselves can be misleading in our search for better government. Institutions need to be working as well as democratic. For us to have workable institutions it is important to deliberate on social and political conditions into which exogenous institutions are embedded. Institutional reform must be pursued in a minimalist way, and how to organize a reasonable deliberation on institutional reform is an open, more important question.

다시 한국 민주주의를 생각한다: 위기와 대안

최장집 ( Choi Jang-jip ) 서울대학교 한국정치연구소 2020 韓國 政治 硏究 Vol.29 No.2

이 글은 문재인정부의 개혁정책이 한국민주주의발전에 얼마나 기여했는가에 대해 평가한다. 그것은 진보와 보수 간의 극단적인 양극화와 더불어 민주주의의 위기를 불러왔다. 대통령으로의 권력집중화는 강화됐고, 법의 지배는 위험에 놓였다. 시민사회와 시민운동은 위로부터 국가에 통합되면서 사회적 다원화와 정당의 발전에 부정적인 힘으로 등장했다. 한국에서도 포퓰리즘적 정치형태를 발견하게 된다. 이 글은 자유주의적 입헌주의에 입각하여 대통령으로의 권력집중의 분산과 새로운 유형의 정당정치에서 변화의 출발점을 찾는다. This essay is a critique of the reforms under the Moon Jae-In government. being evaluated in terms of healthy development of the Korean democracy. The reforms are the main cause for bringing about an extreme polarization between the right and the left in Korean politics, and the crisis of democracy as well. The presidential power became even more centralized and the rule of law has been weakened. The civil society and the citizens’ movements are integrated from above by the state, and thereby restraining societal pluralism and a robust development of political parties. A degree of populist politics is widely observed in the practice of Korean democracy. This essay proposes as an alternative the principle of liberal constitutionalism, the decentralization of the presidential power, and the restructuring of party politics.

한국 민주주의를 이해하는 방법에 관한 하나의 논평

최장집(Choi Jang-Jip) 비판사회학회 2010 경제와 사회 Vol.- No.85

이 글은 현재 한국사회에서 통용되는 정치언어와 민주주의에 대한 상식화된 이해방식, 그로부터 만들어진 정치적 갈등이 얼마나 민주주의 발전에 기여할 것인가에 대해 비판적으로 논평한다. 특히 진보파 일각에서 이명박 정부는 민주주의가 아니다 라는 전제 위에 민주 대 반민주로 양분화해서 진영 간의 대결구조로 이해하는 문제와, 이른바 “반 MB전선”을 기초로 민주대연합을 주창하는 슬로건 내지는 정치 전략에 함축된 의미를 분석한다. 이 글은 민주주의에 대한 최소주의적 정의의 관점에서 이러한 인식의 문제점을 조명하면서, 민주주의의 실천과 관련하여 오늘날 한국정치와 시민사회의 공론장에서 가장 중요하다고 생각하는 열 개의 주제를 골라 짧게 논평하는 형식으로 쓰인 단편적인 삽화들로 구성된다. 지금 정치적 갈등은 대결적이고 격렬하게 공격적인 언어의 홍수로 뒤덮이고, 보수파와 진보파 사이에 엄청난 이념적 차이와 중대한 정치적 이슈를 둘러싼 타협불가능의 투쟁처럼 나타나고 있다. 그러나 그것은 한국 민주주의의 발전방향과 보통사람들의 사회경제적인 삶의 문제를 둘러싼 중심적인 갈등이라는 측면에서 볼 때, 단지 가식적인 것이거나 부차적인 중요성을 가질 뿐이다. 한국 민주주의의 가장 심각한 문제는 다른 어떤 것도 아닌 참여의 위기이다. 민주화 이후 지난 20년 동안 투표율은 지속적이고 가파르게 하락해온 결과 투표불참자는 현재 시민유효투표자의 절반에 이르게 되었다. 진보파들이 강조하는 시민운동이 정당이 하지 못하는 참여를 확대하고 소외계층의 의사를 대표하는 것처럼 생각하지만, 진실은 그렇지 않다. 오늘날 한국사회의 중심적인 갈등구조는 대표된 영역과 대표되지 않은 영역, 즉 사회경제적으로 안정적인 중산층 이상의 제도 내로 통합된 사회계층과 서민으로 통칭되는 제도에 통합되지 못한 노동자, 사회적 약자, 소외세력 간의 갈등을 특징으로 한다. 오늘날 격렬하고 공격적인 언어와 레토릭을 앞세운 정치적 대립과 투쟁은 제도권 내에서 발생하는 갈등을 반영할 뿐이다. 이 점에서 진보적 운동을 통해 강화돼왔던 민주/반민주, 진보/보수의 대립구도가 아닌, 한국사회를 구성하는 모든 사회적 층위의 실제 사회경제적 문제를 다루기 위한 이념과 방법의 차이에서 발생하는 새로운 진보/보수, 좌/우의 구분이 필요하다. 정치경쟁의 새로운 패러미터가 요구된다. These days Korean politics is flooded with aggressive and confrontational political languages and mood, thereby intensifying political conflict between the conservatives and the progressives. This situation is to some extent exacerbated by the way in which some sections of the progressive intellectuals and civic movment's activists understand democracy. This paper is a collection of ten vignettes on separate questions which critically comment on this problem. Since the Lee Myung -bak government inaugurated, the progressives have mounted on criticisms and oppositions against it, defining that it is not a democratic government. On this assumption they put forward a political slogan "a great democratic coalition for electoral victory" against the current conservative government based on the conception of political conflict and struggle between the two competiting blocs, namely, democratic forces and anti-democratic forces. In Korean society thanks to the fact that the democracy movement played a central role in democratic transition the legacy of movement is very strong, contrasting with the weak tradition of political party. Some progressive groups are fond of arguing democracy in terms of a maximalist definition rather than a liberal representative minimalist one. This paper examines why such a view is wrong and how they confuse democracy as a regime type with a particular government's characteristics including leadership style, policy contents, patterns of use of law, and so forth. The stylized understanding of democracy taken by some progressives who cherish a moralistic, romantic and ideal view of democracy is ever more encouraged since the Candlelight Vigil and advocates civic movements and direct democracy rather than political party and representative democracy. Under the circumstances political participation is in crisis as shown in the steady and sharp decline of voter turnouts registering about 30% in the last twenty years. At the same time while straddling the strong state Korea's presidents enjoy no effective checks and balances, thereby bringing the presidential system into a hyper-presidentialism combined with "instant politics". At the core of problems is the weakness or underdevelopment of the Korea's parties and party system which are not capable of effectively dealing with social and economic problems which have been arising from the time honored growth-first economy led by the state. Finally an alternative strategy to this predicament is presented that the present left/ right, or conservatives/progressives dividing line which is clearly outmoded, also carrying heavily ideological connotation is reshaped. It would be to allow for a new political parameter in which parties compete and conflict in order to deal with the real social and economic issues and formulate policy alternatives.

노동 없는 민주주의로의 전환

최장집(Choi Jang-Jip) 고려대학교 아세아문제연구소 2006 亞細亞硏究 Vol.49 No.2

This Study aims to analyze the failure of Japan Socialist Party (SP) in terms of the nature of party system in Japan. the 1955 system which has allowed the Liberal Democracy Party (LDP) to sustain its long and stable dominance in the Post-WWII Japanese politics was finally disintegrated in 1993 when the LDP fell so far short of a majority that it was unable to form a government in lower house election. One of the most important features of party system in Japan is that the organized labor cannot represent their interests and passions through a united party in the Japanese politics. In this regard, we can characterize the nature of party system in Japan as ‘democracy withou labor.’ An important point is that the failure of Socialist Party cannot be analyzed without considering the nature of party system in Japan as democracy without labor.<br/> This study focuses on the two variables, the effect of Cold War and the role of the state with a well-developed bureaucracy in analyzing the failure of Socialist Party. The political competition between LDP and SP under the 1955 system was not simply a political competition between two rival parties but a political competition between a pro-system party to have strong commitment to the preservation of the existing constitutional structure and an anit-system party to represent particular interests from a radical wing of the organized labor. Thus, the nature of LDP as a hegemonic party can be understood in this context of ideological dominance of anti-communism under the Cold War. With the effect of Cold-War, another important factor influenced the nature of LDP as a hegemonic party is the role of strong state and bureaucracy. They have played a crucial role in making the Cold War and anti-communism to have hegemony beyond functioning as a mainstream ideology as well as constructing the Post-WWII party system in Japan.

한국 민주주의와 광주항쟁의 세 가지 의미

최장집(Choi Jang Jip) 고려대학교 아세아문제연구소 2007 亞細亞硏究 Vol.50 No.2

This paper aims to reexamine the meaning of the Kwangju Uprising from the vantage point of the Korea's experience of new democracy for twenty years. The Uprising in 1980 is evaluated by the three stages for the evolving democracy. The first of the three is the transition from the authoritarian rule to democracy; the second is the consolidation of democracy; and the third is the Kwangju's legacy that can be interpreted in terms of a prospect which to bring about a robust development of Korea's democracy. No doubt, the view that the Uprising was the principal source of democratization in Korea is widely shared, and it is definitely correct. But the important question is the way in which how the Uprising is understood. In this sense the discourse regarding the Uprising is crucially important and is closely related with the current feature and the state of today's democracy. The spirit of the Uprising has been the source hardly to be dried up for the social movement not only in the course of democratization during the 1980s but also in its aftermath. With the demobilization of movement for democracy the grand discourses like 'nation(Minjok),' 'de mocracy(Minju),' and 'people(Minjung)' have inevitably declined. Nevertheless, among others the discourse of 'people' has been almost disappeared after the democratic consolidation. The paper emphasizes that the people discourse is the most important one for making Korea's democracy more robust and take root in the broader social strata. Today the disenchantment with democracy is widely spreading out general public. Democracy has not been so efficacious that it has failed to bring about substantive results more or less to redress the economic difficulties caused by the neoliberal globalizaton. The meaning and ideal of democracy is not circumscribed by the meaning attended with the notions of democratic transition and consolidation. The spirit of the Uprising does also exert an enduring influence on the people's efforts to realize and broaden socio-economic citizenship. And this effort can centrally be carried out by political parties whose development is on the political agenda of the high priority. This is the most important legacy of the Kwangju Uprising, with a particular emphasis on the discourse of people.

한국 민주주의의 현주소 ; 제도적 실천으로서의 민주주의

최장집 ( Jang Jip Choi ) 민주화운동기념사업회 2006 기억과 전망 Vol.15 No.-

운동에 의한 한국에서의 민주화는 민주화 이후 민주주의의 실천에 있어 커다란 유산을 남겼다. 운동을 경험한 젊은 세대의 많은 사람들은 민주주의를 일종의 운동으로서 이해하기 때문에 민주주의가 부여하는 정치적 공간을 활용하는 데 매우 느리고 미숙하다. 정치 및 정당정치의 제도화와 이를 통한 정치적 실천은 이미 민주화이전 권위주의체제하에서 패턴화되었기 때문에 그들은 정당정치와 정치행위에 대해 부정적 인식을 갖는다. 한국정치에 있어 반정치주의는 운동에 의한 민주화의 유산인데, 또한 그것은 최근년에 헤게모니로 등장한 강력한 신자유주의의 영향과 결합되면서 더 강화되었다. 한국에 있어 정당과 대통령의 역할은 민주주의를 운영하는 데 있어 결정적으로 중요하다. 그럼에도 불구하고 이들은 사회의 다양한 이해관계에 기초하여 사회경제적 정책을 형성하고 문제를 해결함에 있어 미숙하고 커다란 문제를 드러내고 있다. 선거에서 문제가 되는 것은 이제 민주적 정당성과 도덕성이 아니라 정부를 운영할 능력이 중심적인 가치로 등장하고 있다. 운동의 경험을 갖는 많은 사람들과 정당정치인들은 점증하는 민주정부와 민주정치에 대한 실망에 대응하면서 대통령제도 및 정치제도개혁을 통해 문제를 해결하려는 경향을 강하게 드러낸다. 이러한 접근은 문제를 좋은 정치적 실천을 통해서가 아니라 제도개혁을 통해 해결하려는 것으로 문제의 원인을 잘못 이해한 것이다. 그것은 민주주의의 발전에 전혀 도움이 되지 못한다. 문제의 핵심은 민주주의가 부여하는 정치적 공간과 제도를 좋은 정치적 실천을 통해 활용하는가 하는 것이다. Democratization in Korea by movements has left indelible imprints in the development of democracy. Many people, particularly those who had experienced the movements for democracy, tend to understand democracy as a kind of movement for democracy, and are very slow and immature in learning how to exploit the newly opened democratic political space. Because they had understood party politics patterned under the authoritarian rule quite negatively in the same vein they are also negative of political activity through party politics. Negative vision toward politics and party bringing with it anti-politicalism has been ever more strengthened with the rise of neo-liberalism in Korean society. The role of party politics and president is crucially important for the development of democracy. Nonetheless, they are in a big trouble, if not a crisis, and are visibly incompetent in the democratic political processes including the articulation of social cleavages and interests, the setting of political agendas, the formulating of social-economic policies, and the policy performance. Now in the electoral competitions the central issue is nor democratic legitimacy and moral authority but competence. Facing the mounting disenchantment among the electorate to the government and democracy itself as well some people strongly imbued with democratic passions and party politicians-especially ruling party`s-have proposed a constitutional revision concerning the president`s terms and authority in an effort to cope with sharply rising political discontents. Such an institutional approach to political reform is misguided, wrongly understanding where the real problems are. The central issue is that the people who is eager to develop democracy find a way in which they develop party politics in the political space and electoral arenas.

한국민주주의와 좋은 정부의 조건에 관하여

최장집(Choi Jang-Jip) 참여연대 참여사회연구소 2003 시민과세계 Vol.- No.3

개헌문제와 민주주의의 규범: 대통령의 개헌발의를 중심으로

최장집 ( Jang-jip Choi ) 서울대학교 한국정치연구소 2018 韓國 政治 硏究 Vol.27 No.2

이 글은 문재인정부가 제시한 개헌안의 내용에 관한 것이 아니라, 개헌을 추진했던 방법에 대한 비판을 주제로 한다. 저자는 국회가 아닌 대통령이 중심이 돼추진하는 개헌 자체가 삼권분립의 원리와 충돌하기 때문에 민주주의의 원리와 상충한다고 주장한다. 또한 제헌헌법에 비유될 정도의 의제의 광범함과 헌법심의의 짧은 기간은 위험할 정도로 내용의 부실함을 불러올 수 있다. 동시에 이러한 개헌방식은 개헌안을 중심적으로 다루어야할 국회와 정당은 물론 시민사회 공론장에서 광범한 논의를 필연적으로 어렵게 한다. 이 글은 한국헌법의 틀로서 제헌헌법이 중심적으로 기초하고 있는 미국헌법과 그 제정과정 그리고 헌법수정과정의 사례들로부터 비교의 준거를 찾는다. This paper is a critique concerning the procedural aspect of the constitution amendment in Korea that the President has driven. The scope of amendment agendas also matters because it is as broad as that of the first constitution making, and the time span for deliberation is surprisingly short. As a consequence, they might cause the contents of amentment to bear some serious shortcomings. Furthermore, the amendment procedure, being driven by the President, not the National Assembly, may somehow contradict the principles of separation of power and checks and balances as the basic tenets of constitutional democracy. Such a way necessarily discourages the National Assembly and the party politicians from actively participating in broader discussions and deliberations concerning the agendas of the various amendment proposals, and also minimizing a broader citizen participation in the public sphere of civil society. In order to support his argument the author draws many theoretical and comparative references from America’s constitution making and its amendment processes.

변형주의(Transformism)와 한국의 정치발전

최장집(Jang Jip Choi) 성곡언론문화재단 1996 성곡논총 Vol.27 No.2

지역정치와 분권화의 문제

최장집(Choi Jang-Jip) 한국지역사회학회 2001 지역사회연구 Vol.9 No.1