정치적 평등의 재검토 - 정치적 평등에 의한 기회박탈과 정치적 평등 복원을 위한 시론 -

In general, political equality is prone to be narrowly understood as electoral equality. Accordingly, it is said that political equality has a character of arithmetic, absolute and formal equality. Also, it is believed that the legislator has the discretion to concrete regulations on political equality and the Constitutional Court has tended not to strictly review the regulations. However, the fact that the legislator does not always make laws for minorities and the disabled to provide them with compensation for suffering can be problematic. The extremely formalized understanding of political equality brings the deprivation of political equality of opportunity for minorities in its train. In modern political society, where citizen's substantial participation, expending participation, and protection of substantial political equality in the political process are requested, the minimum level of political equality protection, such as universal suffrage, is not enough to achieve substantial political equality. To guarantee substantial political equality, we should individually examine the various discrimination issues and embody the limits of discretion to be allowed for the legislator. Furthermore, these issues of discrimination will be reviewed in accordance with the Constitution which is reinterpreted on the basis of the republican political theory. In the republican point of view, to guarantee political equality means to ensure the substantial applicability of equal opportunity in the political process, to guarantee positive civil rights equally, and to pursue improving degrees of equality protection through the abolishment of social and economic discrimination.