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Korea, the politics of the vortex
Henderson, Gregory; Harvard University. Center for International Affairs; 1968
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Korea: The Politics of the Vortex
Gregory Henderson
3.75
8 ratings1 review
This study presents a wholly new interpretation of the pattern of Korean politics and its origin in Korean society and culture. It also represents a new approach in the analysis of politics itself, with relevance for other societies in Asia and, in some instances, Africa. The author finds that Korea offers an extreme example of what occurs when, for a millennium and a half, and unusually homogeneous society is surmounted by a highly centralized political system existing in a culturally monist environment. In the circumstances intermediary organizations tend to remain inchoate, depriving the society of the seedbeds for leadership. As a result, or power politics - the culture's one great magnet - exerts an irresistible pull upward toward the capital. Individuals rely on patrons, chance, personal appearance, family, and, in recent times education to bring them success, but not on organization. This tendency has long inhibited the formation of true political parties, and such groupings as have existed have been temporary associations of individuals whose desire for personal power has far outweighed any wish for group continuity. This is a phenomenon of the vortex in Korean politics both present and past. --- excerpt from book's dustjacket
GenresHistoryNonfiction
495 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 1968
Want to read
Buy on Kobo
Rate this book
Edit my activity
Korea: The Politics of the Vortex
Gregory Henderson
3.75
8 ratings1 review
This study presents a wholly new interpretation of the pattern of Korean politics and its origin in Korean society and culture. It also represents a new approach in the analysis of politics itself, with relevance for other societies in Asia and, in some instances, Africa. The author finds that Korea offers an extreme example of what occurs when, for a millennium and a half, and unusually homogeneous society is surmounted by a highly centralized political system existing in a culturally monist environment. In the circumstances intermediary organizations tend to remain inchoate, depriving the society of the seedbeds for leadership. As a result, or power politics - the culture's one great magnet - exerts an irresistible pull upward toward the capital. Individuals rely on patrons, chance, personal appearance, family, and, in recent times education to bring them success, but not on organization. This tendency has long inhibited the formation of true political parties, and such groupings as have existed have been temporary associations of individuals whose desire for personal power has far outweighed any wish for group continuity. This is a phenomenon of the vortex in Korean politics both present and past. --- excerpt from book's dustjacket
GenresHistoryNonfiction
495 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 1968
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[Column] Can Korean politics escape the vortex?
Posted on : 2024-03-28
When political jockeying devolves into a brawl for badges, we have drifted far from the original mandate of politics
People walk past a display on March 24, 2024, at the Suwon Convention Center in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, raising awareness about the upcoming general elections on April 10 and getting out the vote. (Yonhap)
People walk past a display on March 24, 2024, at the Suwon Convention Center in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, raising awareness about the upcoming general elections on April 10 and getting out the vote. (Yonhap)
By Lee Chang-gon, senior staff writer and editorial writer
Not long ago, I met a German political scientist for tea in downtown Seoul. I was meeting Hannes Mosler, a professor at the University of Duisburg-Essen.
Since Mosler has been studying Korean politics for several years now, I asked him point-blank what he thought about Korea’s upcoming parliamentary elections.
Mosler’s response, uttered without a moment’s hesitation, was that the elections represent a giant step backward. “The last presidential election was a giant step backward, too, but this time it’s even worse,” he added.
Why did he think so? “All we’ve seen so far is squabbling between the parties.”
And indeed, the general elections so far have been all about the badges — golden insignia conventionally worn on the breast by Korean lawmakers.
The usual campaign pledges were made at the beginning of the election, but none of them have generated much debate or interest for the public.
I suspect the only thing voters will remember about the political domain in these elections is the commotion over party primaries, the constant formation and dissolution of coalitions, and crass language.
The conflict over the government’s push to increase placements at the country’s medical schools has already lasted for a month and a half with no end in sight.
But the medical school debate isn’t just a dispute between the medical community and the government, as it’s often presented in the news media. Rather, it’s an issue that impinges directly upon the health and safety of the general public, and the sick in particular.
Even though this is an election period — or perhaps because this is an election period, being the perfect time for highly visible political gestures — the parties ought to be rushing to trot out their respective solutions to the dispute. But I haven’t seen the parties engage in any arguments, not to mention serious deliberations, on the topic, either with each other or with the administration.
The reality of politics is that elections are a battlefield in which one side prevails and the other is vanquished. Even so, when the battle devolves into a brawl for badges, we have drifted far from the original mandate of politics.
What is politics supposed to be? Surely it ought to be a collective decision-making process that arrives at solutions for issues affecting all members of society, such as whether more people should be let into medical school. When a country’s political system fails to fulfill that function, then closer scrutiny is in order.
Mosler sought to interpret recent trends in Korean politics through the theoretical lens of “politics of the vortex.” He argues that politics of the vortex, an age-old feature of Korean politics, is why the general elections are turning into a slugfest between the big parties just like the presidential election before them.
In fact, politics of the vortex is a familiar metaphor for any student of political science, and one that has long been used to explain the patterns in contemporary Korean politics. The term originates in “Korea: Politics of the Vortex,” a book by former US diplomat Gregory Henderson that was published by Harvard University Press in 1968.
The term “vortex” here is not used in the ordinary sense of “whirlpool,” or a whirling mass of fluid that sucks things underwater.
Rather, it’s just the opposite — it refers to atomized individuals being swept upwards in a great rush toward the pinnacle of power.
Henderson explained that in contrast with Americans, who value economic gain, Koreans regard power and public positions as the sole determinant of one’s rank in society, producing an especially powerful drive to push forward, along with many others, toward positions of privilege.
Such tendencies, according to Henderson, have taught many Koreans to regard power as the ultimate value on earth, an attitude that has been internalized in Korean political patterns.
Such patterns are especially noticeable in this election season. Scholars, attorneys, journalists, labor activists, NGO activists and even religious figures have been jostling their way toward the center of power. At the peak is the lawmaker’s badge, and especially a badge from one of Korea’s two major parties.
During this process, these would-be lawmakers have gone to unseemly lengths, shucking off their once-touted ideas, philosophies, values and even long-standing party memberships the way a snake sheds its skin. Their ranks include respected members of NGOs and even progressive parties.
Such behaviors explain how a 56-year-old metaphor about Korean politics coined by one foreign scholar has been dusted off by another foreign political scientist in connection with this year’s general elections.
While some aspects of Henderson’s theory of Korean politics are inappropriate for explaining politics today, Mosler is surely not the only one with whom Henderson’s grand insight about the politics of the vortex continues to resonate.
These observations also indicate the questions that Korean society must confront after the general elections, whatever their outcome may be.
Two of those questions are as follows. Why is Korean politics still trapped in the vortex? And why has progressive politics failed repeatedly since democratization?
But we must not limit our questions to politics. I submit that we should pose fundamental questions about values and ethics in all areas of society, including civic groups, the labor movement, the academy and the electorate. After all, the future of our society, which confronts so many challenges, may depend upon how seriously we address these questions.
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Chapter
South Korea
Still the ‘politics of the vortex’? 1 A historical analysis of party solidarities and populism
ByKan Kimura
Book
The Routledge Handbook of Populism in the Asia Pacific
Edition1st Edition
First Published2023
ImprintRoutledge India
Pages14
eBook ISBN9781003160014
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ABSTRACT
In East Asia, the trend towards populism was not a new phenomenon in the 2010s. In the early 2000s, many countries in the region had already experienced political reforms in the name of ‘the people’ against the ‘elite’ by political leaders who were no longer dependent on the old political systems and media and could directly appeal to the public via the internet. South Korea is a case in point. These trends have developed further under the progressive Moon Jae-in government. The government has sought to reform the political system by insisting that it must be under the control of the people. This chapter examines why South Korea experienced populism in the 2000s and why this political phenomenon is growing even today. South Korea is compared to other East Asian countries including Japan to understand these tendencies.
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