Historical Characteristics of Korea's Social Democracy
Journal Title: International Journal of Korean History - Year 2002, Vol 3, Issue 1
Abstract
Socialism is an ideology that was formed and organized in the process of the political movement of modern western Europe. For its part, social democracy, founded in the late 19th century, carried the same meaning as socialism in that it criticized the structural discrepancy within capitalism. In the aftermath of the Bolshevik revolution and the establishment of the Comintern, the Communist International, in 1919, social democracy began to be diverged from Marxism‐Leninism, or communism. As a result of its individual ideological origin and hue within each country, there are many interpretations of social democracy. However, there are a few essential values that are consistently pursued: democracy and socialism as well as political freedom and socio‐economic equality. Seen in this light, social democracy can be found not only in the West as there exist different versions in various countries throughout the globe. While Korea began to participate in exchanges with countries in which social democracy was practiced since 1917, the relationship did not take root. Therefore, it is easy to see that Korea’s variety of social democracy1 is more of a philosophy and ideology created during the process of our own historical development, rather than something that was formed as a result of any relationship with the West. Moreover, Korea’s social democracy emerged as a movement based on practicality rather than as a result of any theoretical debate or strife. And thus, Korea’s social democracy is a practical ideology boasting Korean characteristics, which nevertheless in many ways approaches the variety of social democracy found in the West.
Authors and Affiliations
Kyung-chae Roh
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP26271
- DOI -
- Views 413
- Downloads 14
The Great Wall as Perilous Frontier for the Mongols in 16th Century: Reconsidering Nomadic-Sedentary Relations in Premodern Inner Asia
The existing scholarship in nomadic-sedentary relations has focused on the raids and invasions by nomads against agricultural society, and has attempted to seek internal reasons for this within the nomadic society. Inter...
Intertextual Dynamics in Ode to My Father: Competing Narratives of the Nation and the People
Recently, films based on a specific historical figure or background are smashing South Korean box office records. For example, over 10 million viewers flocked to watch each of the following films: The Attorney (relea...
Old and New Reasons for the Controversy on Koguryŏ : a Geo-Political Comment
The following article is intended as a slightly modified version of the paper I presented at the ISKS (International Society for Korean Studies) workshop on the Dongbei Gongcheng and Koguryŏ, which was held in Vancouv...
Divergent Perspectives:The U.S.-South Korean Disagreement over the Northern Limit Line in the mid-1970s
two allies’ divergent perceptions toward security issues. In contrast to the more global lens U.S. policymakers have adopted in viewing events on the Korean Peninsula, South Korean leaders have traditionally viewed these...
The Formation and Evolution of the Koguryŏ-centric Perception of the International Order
One of the primary goals of the field of historical studies is the restoration of history. The task of identifying phenomena based on the facts found in various historical materials, which is referred to as the critic...