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7

CITIZENS’ SUPPORT FOR DEMOCRACY:
IS SOUTH KOREAN DEMOCRACY FREE FROM

DECONSOLIDATION*

Youngho Cho **

Abstract

This chapter examines the cultural deconsolidation of

South Korean democracy from 1996 to 2018. Analysing the five
waves of the World Values Survey, I found that public support
for democracy has steadily eroded and openness to strongman
and military rules has increased in South Korea. The analysis

revealed that cultural deconsolidation of South Korean
democracy started during the early 2000s and, more important,
this downward trend continued even after the 2016-2017
candlelight protest. Therefore, the cultural foundation of

democracy in South Korea is shallow and its democracy has
fallen into a low-equilibrium trap in which resilient violation of
liberal integrity among leaders is matched by low confidence of
citizens in democracy.

Keywords: democratic support, deconsolidation of democracy,
strongman rule, hybridisation of regime support, legitimacy,
political culture

rd
* This paper is prepared for delivery at the 23 KPI Congress on
“Democracy amidst Changes: The Comparative Perspectives” on November
5, 2021. This paper is forthcoming in the Oxford Handbook of South
Korean Politics in 2022.

** Associate Professor of Political Science, Sogang University, Korea