The Formation of Democracy in Korea in Light of French Experience *

Abstract

This paper analyzes the history of democracy in Korean modernity from the viewpoint of the establishment of the nation-state and its transformation in the light of French experience. It examines first the formation of democracy in Korea, followed by three attendant problems: subjects, state power, and representation. We must presuppose some perspectives for our examination. Above all, the formation of democracy must be contextualized in Korean modernity. That is, we must study the history of the nation-state in the context of the opening of ports and colonization. In Korea, modernity, nation-state, and democracy are combined. Just as the French nation ***-state was not the direct result of the 1789 Revolution but that of the long nineteenth century that followed the Revolution, the formation of the Korean nation-state was the result of a long history of modernity in Korea. We can see democracy not as an institution but as a historical movement. Different ideologies have tried to appropriate democracy, which is seen as an ideal, for their own purposes. As a result, democracy became an actual, historical movement. Democracy is realized with the establishment of democratic subjects and democratic state power.