International, Institutionalization And Democratization

For a long time, the study of transitions assumed that "democratization was a domestic affair par excellence". Democratic transition has been one particular field of study in comparative politics where the dismissal of international factors has been pronounced than in other fields. Democratization frequently has two faces: one internal and one for the international community. It is not just about domestic regime change or political reform. It is also about responding to global/ regional political and economic trends and satisfying powerful states with acceptable political systems. International factors are an important part of the story of transitions.There is emerging consensus among democratization scholars that the analysis of international factors is an indispensable part of their researches. Any bald relegation of international factors to a secondary or subordinate category is too simplistic, especially in the third wave of democratization. However, all such works are still at the level of initial reflections and exceptions to be developed by further theoretical refinements and case studies. Besides, given generalizations did not include the East Asian context. This certainly creates a problem for universal applicability of their general frameworks and the credibility of generalizations.It seems beyond doubt that major shifts in the distribution of power in the international system and global political and economic trends have contributed to a number of democratizations. Although scholars make frequent references to the international factors in analyses of democratic transitions, there is no coherent and comprehensive analysis of international factors in South Korean democratization. Regime change in South Korea has always reflected the influence of international factors alongside the imperatives of domestic politics.This dissertation presents a theoretical discussion that includes international variables into the study of regime change and empirically examines the case of South Korea. It maintains that international dimensions could be regarded as an explanatory variable of democratization rather than a context variable. International factors should be defined according to a mix of structure, context and actors. Structural pressures generated at international level, which lead countries in the system to conform to specific political and economic requirements in order to fit into a West-dominated system in a global era. Ad hoc policies adopted by the leading nation-states in the system, which aims at influencing domestic distribution of resources among actors to achieve their most preferred outcome in line with their national interests.The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the interaction between international factors and domestic democratization; it not only influences the choices of internal elites, but also constrains the development of domestic democracy. It analyzes the circumstances under which international factors affects domestic actors' choice of political institutions and actions and concentrates on a selection of key international structures and actors that make up this complex picture. It further aims at (1) to offer a typology to integrate international factors into the analysis of democratization, (2) to provide coherent and systematic accounts for how domestic political change interplays with international factors, (3) to identify different forms of influence of international factors. The framework of this dissertation is as follows:In Chapter 1 Introduction, I put forward research questions and significance, elaborate key conception and hypothesis, and construct an analytical framework of international factors.In Chapter 2 Political development and constitutional systems in South Korea, I illuminate international variables have an impact throughout the whole process of political development of South Korea and they are not simply limited to one of the phases of it.In Chapter 3 International structural factors in democratization of South Korea, I analyze how international structure affect democratization of South Korea from the perspective of global system, regional relations in East Asia and the relations between North and South Korea.In Chapter 4 International contextual factors in democratization of South Korea, economic globalization, third wave of democratization, communication of democratic ideas and global civil society provide a democracy-promoting international context for democratization in South Korea.In Chapter 5 International actors in democratization of South Korea, United States, Japan and international organizations provided democratic assistance and exerted transitional pressures on South Korea. These international actors have an impact on democratic transition in South Korea through their linkage with domestic actors.In Chapter 6 Conclusion, I summarize main generalizations and findings.My study challenges the "domestically biased" assumption and argues that the third wave of democratization is global in character in which international factors play a crucial part in different stages of democratization. Conclusions:Firstly, relationships among international factors: the international structure conditions international contexts and the foreign polices of international actors. Democracy has become globalized. It is intimately tied up with pressures generated at the international level and the agency exercised by a number of trans-nationally groups and organizations.Secondly, interactions exist between international factors and domestic factors. International factors crucially contributed to shape the development and the outcome of the South Korean transition by modifying the incentive structures of the domestic factors. International support for democracy was crucial to democratization in South Korea. However, it also shows without a strong economy and muaturing civil society, democracy could not survive.Thirdly, international factors change the developmental logic of specific countries with the clue of internationalization, institutional change and political development. Political elites must inaugurate democratic reforms if it judged the internal costs of toleration to be lower than the external costs of suppression. From the state's perspective, the external costs of suppression could present themselves in two forms, either in the form of the imposition of international sanctions or in the form of the suspension of international assitance.Last but not least, the effects of the international factors can be measured through international leverage and international linkage.To summarize, it is the contention of this study that international factors play a central role in process of regime change. We can conclude that international support for democracy, at least in the South Korean case, was crucial to democratization. However, it was also shown that without full domestic factors, or the international factors cannot be translated into domestic factors, democracy could not survive for long- as the case of the Second Republic (1960-1961) demonstrated. Democratization was and will be a process that can be achieved only by the people of a country, but without the support of international community that process can prove to be impossible.