[Citizen College Season 6] #6 Candlelight Politics

On November 17, 2022, the Peace and Democracy Institute and the Seongbuk District Office held the sixth lecture of the Citizen College Season 6  “Politics in Everyday Life.”  In this lecture Dr.  Hyun-Jin Cha, Research Professor at PDI, presented on the topic of “Candlelight Politics.”

This lecture dealt with Korea’s candlelight vigils, their main participants, and lasting impacts. Large-scale candlelight vigils occurred in Korea in 2002, 2004, 2008, and 2016, and the participation rate has continuously increased. In addition, there have been changes in the gender, age group, education level, frequency of participation in voting and tendency of voting choice of participants in the vigils. At this time, there are both claims that candlelight vigils play a positive role in democracy, and conversely, that the role of political parties should be emphasized rather than candlelight vigils under a democratic system. Statistical analysis showed that participation in candlelight vigils increases people’s political efficacy, but has no significant effect on trust in the government. Political efficacy refers to the feeling that an individual’s political actions influence or can affect the political process, while trust in government refers to the belief that the government is operating in accordance with the normative expectations held by the people about its operation.