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This paper explores under what political conditions a "responsible prime minister" can emerge in a presidential system, focusing on South Korea after the 1987 democratization. Under presidentialism, premiers lack the constitutional resources to make themselves into a "responsible prime minister" independent from the president. Even such political resources as high popularity, deep trust from the president, and influence over the legislature are not enough to make them a "responsible prime minister". Thus, most premiers remain a highly compliant subordinate of their president in Korea. By contrast, in a multi-party system Kim Dae-jung (DJ) sought to invite a third party, the United Liberal Democrats, into the "DIP Alliance" in order to win a highly competitive presidential election and therefore had to yield the prime-ministerial post to the head of the coalition partner party, Kim Jong-pil (JP). Under these political conditions, JP could be a "responsible prime minister" as an exception.
KeyWords: presidential system, responsible prime minister, coalition cabinet, DIP Alliance, Kim Jong-pil
I. Introduction
In the typical presidential system of United States (US), the office of prime minister does not exist, but a vice president generally assists the president. The premiership, as the head of the executive branch, is a government institution that was created in the parliamentary system of the United Kingdom (UK). However, in quite a few countries that adopt a presidential system, including South Korea (Korea hereafter), both a president and a prime minister may exist simultaneously within one administration. Usually, these prime ministers are considered the official second in command of the executive branch. But in Korea, premiers have mostly been considered a "token post", rather than a position that wields actual authority. This is true for the period following the 1987 democratization, as well as authoritarian eras. In quite a few cases prime ministers were simply to be criticized by the public and opposition parties, and resign voluntarily or involuntarily, in lieu of the president, for failures of the executive branch (Kim 2008, 85; Yang 1999, 94).
In every post-democratization presidential election of Korea, the candidates of major parties have consistently pledged to implement a "responsible prime minister" system in which considerable authority is delegated to the premier, and consequently to avoid an "imperial" presidency. However, such promises have hardly...