‘자유민주적 기본질서’와 한국의 헌법 이념: 헌법 전문 개정의 쟁점을 중심으로

This study aims to examine the meaning and background of the controversial issue of “the basic free and democratic order” in the amendment of the Preamble to the Constitution, and explore the key idea of the Korean Constitution that should be presented more clearly in the future. Since the establishment of the government, the Republic of Korea has claimed itself to be a liberal democracy, and most constitutional scholars have agreed that its Constitution is based on it. However, there seems to be considerable disagreement as to what that liberal democracy is and how it should be defined. In this context, the issue of “the basic free and democratic order” is of important significance. It is not simply a matter of choice of terms, but of how to define liberal democracy as a constitutional ideology. This study first analyzes the meaning of the "free democratic basic order" presented in the Constitution, referring to the constitutional history, and reveal the problems it poses. And by looking at various branches of understanding of what is "liberal democratic" in the context of political debate centered on the so-called “dispute over History Textbook,” I examine how the debate can align with the “the basic free and democratic order” in the Constitution and what implications it has in regard to the future Constitutional amendment. In doing so, this study develops a proposal of how liberal democracy should be presented in the Constitution as its essential ideology.