Abstract

Regionalism has been the dominant political cleavage in Korea since the June Uprising of 1987, which brought about democratization. Even though many scholars attribute it to many sources such as regional economic disparity, regional discrimination in elite recruitment, political mobilization by political elite, etc, we need a more synthetic, dynamic, and historical approach to understanding Korean regionalism instead of focusing on a single factor. In this respect, regional cleavage in Korean politics has developed through four stages--1) dormant period (1961-1987); 2) regional rivalry system (1987-1990); 3) regional hegemony system (1990-1995); 4) new regional rivalry system (1995-present). The 2002 presidential election once again showed the predominance of regional cleavage in Korean politics even though generational difference emerged as a new cleavage in Korean politics