경제민주화 헌법 해석의 두 길: 유진오와 조소앙

This paper analyzes the discourse of economic democratization. The long-standing political and social debate in Korea over economic democratization or economic democracy indicates that the concept is undergoing an ideological struggle for its legitimacy in Korean society. This research analyzes economic democratization from a political-ideological perspective, focusing on its constitutional interpretation. The specificity of the discourse of economic democratization in Korea is that it is based on its constitutional normativity, unlike the cases in other countries. Therefore, it shows how economic democratization is interpreted in Korean society by focusing on the economic democratization-related cases of the Constitutional Court, the highest constitutional authority in the Korean judiciary. The analysis shows that the Korean Constitutional Court understands economic democratization as part of the realization of social justice and economic order based on the implementation of the social state principle of the Constitution. And the practice of the social state principle means ensuring a just minimal humane life for the people. Furthermore, it shows that this way of understanding the Constitution regarding economic democracy is consistent with Yu Jin-Oh’s concept of the social state, which had a great influence on making the Constitution. However, I suggest that there was another interpretation of economic democratization in the history of Korean political thought that was not based on the current Constitutional Court or Yu’s understanding of the social state principle through Jo So-Ang’s political theory. It reveals the differences between Yu and Jo’s ideas on equality and economic democracy and argues how the meaning of economic democratization differs when interpreted according to the two positions. In doing so, it emphasizes that the current constitutional interpretation of economic democratization is not the only alternative or inevitable outcome.