The purpose of the project is to reinvent the desirable role and function of government, taking into consideration the Korean political situation in which democracy is now being consolidated. For that purpose, the research participants try to investig ...
The purpose of the project is to reinvent the desirable role and function of government, taking into consideration the Korean political situation in which democracy is now being consolidated. For that purpose, the research participants try to investigate the origins and historical developments of Eastern and Western governments in history, especially, in light of the tension between the common and the public. The followings are the salient features of this research.
First of all, this research puts emphasis on the tension between the common and the public, re-discovering and re-defining the element of the common in government which has been concealed in the foil of the public aspect of government. The traditional approach to government has been fixed on the distinction between the private and the public realms of government and, thus, its focus has been confined to the institutions, written laws and power of government, setting aside the fabric-like character of the common that is able to unite or bring together the people.
Second, the original aspect of this research is to reveal the importance of the common in the dynamic historical development of governments through the tension between the common and the public. The historical development of governments is closely related to the growth of participatory citizens who constitute, in fact, the common political fabric out of which a new public is forged. This means that the growth of the common always reshuffles the public which tends to be corrupt, favoring vested social interests. This fact is clearly revealed in the events of modern civil convulsions, such as the English, American, and French revolutions. These convulsions remind us that the solid edifice of the public must be reconstituted along with the growth of the common, in order to retain its flexibility.
Third, the tension between the common and the public has its power to explain the phenomenon of government in modern society. Representative government was the first political outcome of the tension; it gave citizens the right of indirect participation in government. Later in the 20th century, that tension brought about a new conflict between representative government and participatory democracy. And, finally, the idea of "governance" has been brought forward to reconcile that conflict.
In conclusion, this research tries to rehabilitate the forgotten aspect of government, that is, the common, in order to attain a good government. It is based upon the urgent necessity of reconciliation, arising from the frictional tension between the common and the public.