Department of Political Science & Diplomacy, Selected as Social Science Korea (SSK) Mid-sized Support Project

[Image 1] Wonbin Cho, a professor of Political Science & Diplomacy

The department of political science & diplomacy’s research project “New Normal Era, New Democracy” led by professor Wonbin Cho, was selected as ‘Social Science Korea (SSK) Mid-sized Support Project’ organized by Ministry of Education and National Research Foundation of Korea, and thus they will receive about 300 million KRW of research fund annually for three years from September 2020. The research project will be carried out by the College of Social Science’s affiliated research center, “Center for Good Democracy” and 15 researchers will participate.

Under the theme of new social norms and public nature, this research project aims to develop new theories and present appropriate models and evaluation criteria for democracy by analyzing and evaluating how they interact in various political and economic systems based on the concept of “New Democracy”, core element, and subelement.

Discussions have been made in economics or business administration on the New Normal phenomena that encompass low growth and low consumption, low birth rate and aging, digital capitalism and labor market crises of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, climate change caused by global warming, and the spread of unpredictable epidemics such as COVID-19, but they are still not established as theoretical concepts.

The ongoing resistance to structural racism in the United States, the growth of extreme right parties in Europe, repeated populism in South America, solidified authoritarianism in the Middle East, and China's growing influence in developing countries, including Africa, show signs of a crisis in democracy that triggers not only self-reflection within the existing democratic system but also a debate over competition for democracy versus authoritarianism.