Energy democratization policy without democratization of policy governance in South Korea: A participatory democracy perspective

Abstract

Policy governance with citizen participation has gained much attention in the application of participatory democracy. Accordingly, what conditions are needed to conform to the idea of policy governance and contribute to policy effectiveness? This article answers this question by examining the energy policy of the South Korean Moon Jae‐in government. It argues that—in addition to the formation of policy governance—democratizing its operation based on the democratic principles of legitimacy and responsibility is required, and theoretically presents conditions to this end. It then examines the Moon government's energy policy process, featuring nuclear phase‐out and fostering renewable energy. The government‐formed energy policy governance was represented by public debate committees and policy projects that accompany citizen participation under the banner of participatory democracy. However, it does not consider the democratic principles that led to people questioning its authenticity and brought about serious policy problems that hindered the accomplishment of policy objectives. Related Articles Ayhan, Kadir Jun, and Nancy Snow. 2021. “Introduction to the Special Issue: Global Korea Scholarship: Empirical Evaluation of a Non‐Western Scholarship Program from a Public Diplomacy Perspective.” Politics & Policy 49(6): 1282–91. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12440. Heo, Inhye. 2013. “The Political Economy of Policy Gridlock in South Korea: The Case of the Lee Myung‐bak Government's Green Growth Policy.” Politics & Policy 41(4): 509–35. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12029. Kane, John, Hui‐Chieh Loy, and Haig Patapan. 2010. “Introduction to the Special Issue: The Search for Legitimacy in Asia.” Politics & Policy 38(3): 381–94. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-1346.2010.00240.x.

Note from the Editors

“…Siguiendo con el tema del conocimiento de políticas y la participación de expertos en el proceso de políticas, Aerang Nam y Christopher M. Weible (2023) ofrecen una bienvenida extensión del Marco de Coalición de Defensa (MCD) a un contexto no occidental en su examen del papel de académicos, en debates sobre la política adversaria de energía nuclear de Corea del Sur (ver también Heo 2022). Encuentran que la mayoría de los académicos se alinean con una coalición con respecto a la política nuclear en el país (muy pocos permanecen neutrales) y su discurso es distinto de otros actores políticos, tendiendo a ser más especializado y de mayor alcance.…”

“…继续政策知识和专家参与政策过程这一主题，Aerang Nam和Christopher M. Weible (2023) 在其文章中将倡导联盟框架(ACF)扩展应用到一个非西方情境，分析了学者在关于韩国的争议性核能政策辩论中的作用(另见Heo 2022)。他们发现，大多数学者在该国的核政策方面都与一个联盟保持一致(很少有人保持中立)，并且他们的话语与其他政策行动者不同，即话语往往更为专业、所涉及的范围更广。他们还指出，在亲核联盟中，学者在辩论中的中心性随着冲突的激烈程度而增加，但在反核联盟中则有所下降。…”

“…Staying with the theme of policy knowledge and expert involvement in the policy process, Nam and Weible (2023) offer a welcome extension of the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) to a non‐Western context in their examination of the role of academics in debates about South Korea's adversarial nuclear energy policy (see also Heo, 2022). They find that most academics align with a coalition regarding nuclear policy in the country (very few remain neutral) and their discourse is distinct from other policy actors, tending to be more specialized and broader in range.…”

Factors Motivate the Increasing Carbon Trade among Chinese Corporations: Evidence from CSMAR

“…The control and management of creative green approaches lack democratization, such as mandatory vehicle restrictions in Beijing. For instance, Inhye found that representative governance (such as policy communities' debates and projects) ignores the bottom-level demands of citizens, raising the query of true democracy [6].…”

Note from the Editors

“…Heo (2022) brings the participatory democracy perspective very fully into view in her analysis of South Korean energy democratization. The author demonstrates that, while citizen participation in policy making was posited as a central tenet of South Korea's energy policy, in practice that participatory vision was little more than a formality.…”