Deliberative Mini-Publics in South Korea: A Critical Appraisal and Reform Proposals

This paper offers a comprehensive overview of Gongnonhwa, a form of deliberative mini-public that has been implemented frequently in Korea in recent years. I collect and classify 66 cases since 2018, identify their contributions and limitations, and discuss ways to overcome some of the major shortcomings. In doing so, I stress the need for stronger interactions between such mini-publics on the one hand, and formal political process, the public sphere, and other instances of democratic innovations, on the other. In Korea, deliberative mini-publics like Gongnonhwa tend to be understood narrowly as an instrument for conflict resolution for a specific policy issue, and the way they have been designed overwhelmingly takes the form of deliberative polling. Moving beyond these conventional ways, I argue for a need to rethink their role in which they can critically contribute to the wider societal deliberation and promote the innovation of political process.