- P-ISSN0023-3900
- E-ISSN2733-9343
- A&HCI, SCOPUS, KCI
ISSN : 0023-3900
Promises are Promises? A Study of Campaign Promise Fulfillment among South Korean Legislators, 2008–2012
Abstract
In democracies, campaign promises are considered important indictors that voters use to make voting decisions. Despite its normative and theoretical importance in elections and campaigns, breaking a campaign promise has been rather frequent among elected officials. What affects this tendency of legislators to break or keep their campaign promises? By using campaign promise data compiled by one of the largest NGOs in South Korea over the past four years (2008–2012), this article attempts to explain what factors lead South Korean legislators to more or less keep their promises. The findings suggest that legislative committees and policy issues promised in a campaign, along with an individual legislator’s legislative action in the National Assembly, significantly affect the fulfillment of such promises.
- keywords
- South Korea, campaign promise fulfillment, South Korean legislators, policy issues, legislative committee
Reference
Adams, James, et al. 2004. “Understanding Change and Stability in Party Ideologies:Do Parties Respond to Public Opinion or to Past Election Results?” British Journal of Political Science 34.4: 589–610.
Adams, James, and Samuel Merrill III. 2005. “Policy-Seeking Parties in a Parliamentary Democracy with Proportional Representation: A Valence Uncertainty Model.” Photocopy, University of California, Davis.
Bendor, Jonathan, and Terry M. Moe. 1986. “Agenda Control, Committee Capture and the Dynamics of Institutional Politics.” American Political Science Review 80.4: 1187–1207.
Blais, André, Donald Blake, and Stéphan Dion. 1996. “Do Parties Make a Difference:A Reappraisal.” American Journal of Political Science 40.2: 514–520.
Boix, Carles. 1997. “Privatizing the Public Business Sector in the Eighties: Economic Performance, Partisan Responses and Divided Governments.” British Journal of Political Science 27.4: 473–496.
Budge, Ian, and Dennis J. Farlie. 1983. Explaining and Predicting Elections: Issue Effects and Party Strategies in Twenty-Three Democracies. Boston: Allen and Unwin.
Budge, Ian, and Richard I Hofferbert. 1990. “Mandates and Policy Outputs: U.S. Party Platforms and Federal Expenditures.” American Political Science Review 84: 111–131.
Burke, Edmund. [1774] 1987. “Edmund Burke, Speech to the Electors of Bristol.”In vol. 1 of The Founders’ Constitution, edited by Philip B. Kurland and Ralph Lerner, 391–392. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.
Castles, Francis G., ed. 1982. The Impact of Parties and Policies in Democratic Capitalist States. London: Sage Publications.
Dahl, Robert, A. 1971. Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition. New Haven, CT:Yale University Press.
Dahl, Robert, A. 1989. Democracy and Its Critics. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Dalton, Russell J., ed. 2004. Democratic Challenges, Democratic Choices: The Erosion of Political Support in Advanced Industrial Democracies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Erikson, Robert S., Michael B. MacKuen, and James A. Stimson. 2002. The Macro Polity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ezrow, Lawrence. 2007. “The Variance Matters: How Party Systems Represent the Preferences of Voters.” Journal of Politics 69.1: 182–192.
Gibbons, Matthew. 2000. “Election Programmes in New Zealand Politics.” PhD diss., University of Waikato.
Harrington, Joseph. 1993. “The Impact of Reelection Pressures on the Fulfillment of Campaign Promises.” Games and Economic Behavior 5.1: 71–97.
Hedlund, Ronald D., et al. 2009. “Partisan Stacking on Legislative Committees.”Legislative Studies Quarterly 34.2: 175–191.
Hicks, Alexander, and Duane H. Swank. 1984. “On the Political Economy of Welfare Expression.” Comparative Political Studies 17: 81–119.
Hobolt, Sara B., and Robert Klemmensen. 2007. “Government Responsiveness and Political Competition in Comparative Perspective.” Comparative Political Studies 41.3: 309–337.
Huntington, Samuel P. 1991. The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century. Norman, OK, and London: University of Oklahoma Press.
Iverson, Torven, and David Soskice. 2006. “Electoral Institutions and the Politics of Coalitions: Why Some Democracies Redistribute More than Others.” American Political Science Review 100.2: 165–181.
Johnson, Gregg B., and Sooh-Rhee Ryu. 2010. “Repudiating or Rewarding Neoliberalism? How Broken Campaign Promises Condition Economic Voting in Latin America.” Latin American Politics and Society 52.4: 1–24.
Kenman, Hans, ed. 2002. Comparative Democratic Politics. London: Sage Publications.
Khmelko, Irina S., Charles R. Wise, and Trevor L. Brown. 2010. “Committees and Legislative Strengthening: The Growing Influence of Committees in Ukraine’s Legislative Process.” Journal of Legislative Studies 16.1: 73–95.
Kim, Byung Shik. 2002. “Jibangjachidanchejang-ui sungeogongyak-gwa gongyak ihaeng pyeongga-eseo natanan sahoebokji jeongchaek jeonghyang-e gwanhan yeongu: chungbuk jiyeok gichojachidanchejang-ui sungeogongyak-eul jungsim-euro” (A Study on the Local Government Officials’ Social Welfare Campaign Promises and the Assessment of Its Fulfillment: Focusing on the Chungbuk Province Local Officials’ Campaign Promises). Hanguk jibangjachi hakhoebo (Journal of Korean Association for Local Government Studies)14.2: 201–207.
Klingemann, Hans-Dieter, Richard I. Hofferbert, and Ian Budge. 1994. Parties, Policies and Democracy. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Krukones, Michael G. 1985. “The Campaign Promises of Jimmy Carter: Accomplishments and Failures.” Presidential Studies Quarterly 15.1: 136–144.
Kwon, Keedon. 2004. “Regionalism in South Korea: Its Origins and Role in Her Democratization.” Politics and Society 32.4: 545–574.
Laver, Michael. 2005. “Policy and the Dynamics of Political Competition.” American Political Science Review 99.2: 263–281.
Laver, Michael, and Ian Budge. 1992. Party Policy and Government Coalitions. London: Macmillan.
Linz, Juan J., and Alfred Stepan, eds. 1996. Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation: Southern Europe, South America, and Post-Communist Europe. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Manin, Bernard. 1997. Modern Representative Government. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Marschall, Melissa J., and Robert J. McKee. 2002. “From Campaign Promises to Presidential Policy: Education Reform in the 2000 Election.” Educational Policy 16.1: 96–117.
Merrill, Samuel III, and James Adams. 2002. “Centrifugal Incentives in Multicandidate Elections.” Journal of Theoretical Politics 14.3: 275–300.
Page, Benjamin. 1978. Choices and Echoes in Presidential Elections: Rational Man and Elected Democracy. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Pennings, Paul. 2005. “Parties, Voters and Policy Priorities in the Netherlands, 1971–2002.” Party Politics 11.1: 29–45.
Petry, François. 1988. “The Policy Impact of Canadian Party Programs: Public Expenditure Growth and Contagion from the Left.” Canadian Public Policy 14.4: 376–389.
Petry, François. 1991. “Fragile Mandate: Party Programmes and Public Expenditures in the French Fifth Republic.” European Journal of Political Research 20.2: 149–171.
Petry, François. 1995. “The Party Agenda Model: Election Programmes and Government Spending in Canada.” Canadian Journal of Political Sciences 28: 51–84.
Pomper, Gerald. 1980. Party Renewal in America. New York: Praeger.
Powell, G. Bingham. 2004. “The Chain of Responsiveness.” Journal of Democracy 15.4: 91–105.
Powell, G. Bingham, and Guy D. Whitten 1993. “A Cross-National Analysis of Economic Voting: Taking Account of the Political Context.” American Journal of Political Science 37.2: 391–414.
Rallings, Colin. 1987. “The Influence of Election Programmes: Britain and Canada 1945–1979.” In Ideology, Strategy and Party Change: Spatial Analyses of Post-War Election Programmes in 19 Democracies, edited by Ian Budge, David Robertson, and Derek Hearl. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ringquist, Evan J., and Carl Dasse. 2004. “Lies, Damned Lies, and Campaign Promises? Environmental Legislation in the 105th Congress.” Social Science Quarterly 85.2: 400–419.
Roubini, Nouriel, and Jeffrey Sachs. 1989. “Government Spending and Budget Deficits in the Industrial Countries.” Economic Policy 8: 99–132.
Royed, Terry J. 1996. “Testing the Mandate Model in Britain and the United States:Evidence from the Reagan and Thatcher Eras.” British Journal of Political Science 26: 45–80.
Royed, Terry J., and Stephen A. Borrelli. 1997. “Political Parties and Public Policy:Social Welfare Policy from Carter to Bush.” Polity 29.4: 539–563.
Schattschneider, Elmer E. 1942. Party Government. New York: Holt.
Schedler, Andreas. 1998. “The Normative Force of Electoral Promises.” Journal of Theoretical Politics 10.2: 191–214.
Shaw, Carolyn M. 1998. “President Clinton’s First Term: Matching Campaign Promises with Presidential Performances.” Congress and the Presidency 25.1: 43–65.
Shepsle, Keneth A., and Barry R. Weingast. 1987. “The Institutional Foundations of Committee Power.” American Political Science Review 81.1: 85–104.
Stimson, James, Michael MacKuen, and Robert Erikson. 1995. “Dynamic Representation.”American Political Science Review 89.3: 543–565.
Stokes, Susan C. 2001. Mandates and Democracy: Neoliberalism by Surprise in Latin America. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Strøm, Kaare. 2000. “Introduction: Parliamentary Democracy and the Chain of Delegation.” European Journal of Political Research 37.3: 261–289.
Sulkin, Tracy. 2009. “Campaign Appeals and Legislative Action.” Journal of Politics 71.3: 1093–1108.
Tavits, Margit. 2007. “Clarity of Responsibility and Corruption.” American Journal of Political Science 51: 218–229.
Thomson, Robert. 2001. “The Programme to Policy Linkage: The Fulfillment of Election Pledges on Socio-Economic Policy in the Netherlands, 1986–1998.” European Journal of Political Research 40: 171–197.
Wlezien, Christopher. 2004. “Patterns of Representation: Dynamics of Public Preferences and Policy.” Journal of Politics 66.1: 1–24.
- Downloaded
- Viewed
- 0KCI Citations
- 0WOS Citations