In confrontation with the democratic crisis in South Korea, I would like to talk about two forms of politics: the politics of cynicism and the politics of hope.
The politics of cynicism tries to make people believe that active participation of ordinary citizens are useless, meaningless, and not effective in democratic societies. It argues that politics is work for a few elites – politicians, representatives and the so-called experts of politics. And it says that what ordinary citizens do is to elect and respect them. However, I don’t buy this theory for the simple reason that the history of democracy has not ended. As we can see now in South Korea, democracy can still fall into crisis. Democracy can still be threatened. Above all else, democracy can still fall into crisis without the participation of ordinary people. Without serious concerns and active participations of ordinary citizens, democracy can be vulnerable to anti-democratic powers and practices at any time, as the current Korean president Yoon shows in a terrible way. And this is the story of not just South Korea. No democracy is necessarily safe or safe forever. We cannot say any democracy in France, Japan, Brazil, Germany, Egypt, Australia, Bolivia, the U.K. or the United States is safe even under apathy and unconcern of ordinary people.
This is the point where another form of politics, the politics of hope, becomes essential for our democracy. The politics of hope argues that there are quite a lot of things the ordinary citizens can and should do. It claims that there are crucial social and political matters that must be situated within the reach of ordinary citizens and their political practices. It values and appreciates active participations of ordinary people for the health of our democracy. And I believe that people protesting on the streets in South Korea for the impeachment of the President Yoon are showing the politics of hope, because they know that their immediate involvement with serious concern about democracy is indispensable for the survival and health of their democracy right now. Likewise, I deeply believe that any citizen who tries to express her democratic conviction and persuade her fellow citizens that there is something they can do together practices the politics of hope, whether she stands in a large protest, a small protest, a classroom, a workplace, a house, a hair shop, or a gas station. This is why I really appreciate this event and all of you visitors, since I believe that we are making a small but crucial contribution to the politics of hope, not just for democracy in South Korea, but for democracy around the globe.
Hyunjik Jeong is a graduate student in the Department of Political Science at Indiana University. He earned the bachelor’s degree from Korea University and the master’s degree from Seoul National University in South Korea. From his political experiences, he got the conviction that politics must not be confined into the congress and elections but must be extended into a wide range of political practices of ordinary people, and that ordinary citizens, rather than a few elites, are the heroes of politics. He calls himself as a radical democrat, and studies democratic theories and contemporary political thoughts.
We Have Hope. And Our Democracy Calls for Hope