한국의 경제·사회적 양극화와 민주주의 실현의 지체

The economic-social polarization in Korea has become serious problem since the IMF crisis. The development of the industrial structure makes the polarization inevitable. However, its condition always depends on legal systems and policies of each country. In this context, Korean Legislation and Constitutional Court mention the concept of polarization nowadays. The polarization is or will be one of the normative concepts. The polarization raises many problems. Above all, it delays realization of constitutional democracy. Constitutional democracy adopts a certain realization structure: The members of nation formulate and express their opinions. These opinions conflict each other. The conflict is arbitrated and turned into a will of the nation. This structure has some preconditions, such as political equality, community spirit, and national stability. The polarization menaces these preconditions, as a result, it threatens constitutional democracy. The polarization should be mitigated by some changes of legal systems and policies. These include efforts of supporting lower class and increasing burden of higher class. In addition, education, labor, and election countermeasures can be considered. However, these changes have a variety of ripple effects in various fields of state, and have possibility of creating a conflict. Thus, various ripple effects should be analyzed, and people should communicate with each other sufficiently about the changes of policies.