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The Instability of Korean Political Parties: Cue-givers and Cue-chasing Politicians

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2014

JONGKON LEE
JONGKON LEE*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science and International Relations, Ewha Womans Universityljongkon@gmail.com
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Abstract

Korean political parties have been organizationally unstable for decades, even after 1987 when a democratic transition from authoritarian military-based politics was achieved. Many studies have argued that the instability has been caused by the Confucian culture of Korean politics. This paper suggests a different view of the political phenomenon: Korean party instability has been due to the ‘cue-chasing behaviors’ of self-interested politicians, rather than Confucian morality. This study examines the proposition with a historical exploration of Korean political parties between 1987 and 2012.

Type
Research Article
Information
Japanese Journal of Political Science , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , March 2014 , pp. 113 - 130
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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