ABSTRACT
Democratic consolidation institutionalizes the rule-setting stage in which politicians bargain, compromise, and then act on the new rules of democracy. In contemporary South Korea, those involved in the democratic transition experienced suppression and confrontation before political actors reached a compromise for a peaceful transfer of power. The post-World War II yearning for democracy in Korea exploded in the short-lived Second Republic of Jang Myeon, a failed democratic breakthrough. The electoral system in a fresh democracy is the output of intensive bargaining among elites and challengers, with each trying to maximize future gains. Entry and exit rules can restrain potential veto groups from destabilizing the fresh democratic system. Strategies for democratic consolidation focus on designing constitutional barriers, raising political costs, or even using economic incentives to neutralize the military as a political force. The media revolution combined with openness and heightened human rights sensitivities to strengthen the democratization movement.
