Opportunities and Challenges to Gender Quotas in Local Politics: The Case of Municipal Council Elections in Korea
Opportunities and Challenges to Gender Quotas in Local Politics: The Case of Municipal Council Elections in Korea
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地方政治中性别配额的机遇与挑战：以韩国市议会选举为例
DOI：
10.1080/12259276.2017.1352131
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发表时间：
2017
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Jiso Yoon and Ki-young Shin
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Ki-young Shin;Ki-young Shin;EJ Cho and Ki-young Shin;Ki-young Shin and Ah-ran Hywang;Jiso Yoon and Ki-young Shin
本文探讨了亚洲妇女在地方政治中的代表性这一研究不足的话题。具体而言，我们调查的机会和挑战的种类有关的问题，在韩国的情况下，市理事会选举的配额。自配额法通过以来，在混合选举制度的比例代表制层级中严格执行配额确实有利于妇女在地方选举中的代表性。然而，我们也注意到两个不同的因素对该国地方一级的配额提出了挑战。首先，政党领导人最初同意配额的想法，以获得公众的认可，但在实际实施时可能缺乏承诺并表现出阻力。此外，公众普遍赞成改革，以禁止政党参与地方政治，作为实现基层民主的一种方式，这可能会使配额处于危险之中，因为现行法律要求在政党候选人名单中强制实施配额。最后，我们强调基层民主的重要性，实现这一目标的关键不仅是保证候选人提名过程的透明度，而且要确保各政党承诺执行配额。
This paper explores the under-researched topic of women’s representation in local politics in Asia. Specifically, we investigate the kinds of opportunities and challenges regarding the issue of quotas, using the case of municipal council elections in Korea. Strongly enforced quotas in the proportional representation tier of the mixed electoral system have indeed worked favorably for women’s representation in local elections since the adoption of the quota law. Yet, we also note two distinct factors that challenge quotas at the local level in the country. First, party leaders initially agree to the idea of quotas to gain public recognition, but may lack commitment and show resistance when it comes to their actual implementation. Further, the general public consensus that favors reforms in order to bar party involvement in local politics as a way to achieve grassroots democracy, may place quotas at risk, as current laws require mandatory quota implementation in the parties’ candidate lists. We end our paper by highlighting the importance of grassroots democracy and that the key to achieve this goal is not only to guarantee transparency in the candidate nomination process, but also to ensure that parties commit to quota implementation.