학회자료.

Legitimacy as Resource:

How Did the Presidential Impeachment in South Korea Succeed?

< Abstract >

This study retrospectively examines how the South Korean government

tackled the “2016 Candlelight Protest” which ended with the impeachment

of the then-President Park Geun-hye. To understand the rally’s impact on

impeachment decision, we trace strategies of the Blue House and a civil

organization named “Park Geun-hye Resignation Nationwide Movement.”

Resource dependence theory has been adopted to explain the shift from

one stage to another, in a sequence of four critical turning points of the

process: 1) the outset of the scandal, 2) the third candlelight protest rally,

3) impeachment vote, and 4) the verdict of the Constitutional Court. The

key finding is that when two conflicting forces collide multiple times in

different stages, their chosen strategies in accumulation determine the end

resulting equilibrium point. “Compliance” and “management” strategies,

which are more extreme ways for an organization to cope with the state of

affairs, work more effectively than “avoidance” strategy.

[ Key words: Candlelight Protest, Resource Dependence Theory,

Presidential Impeachment ]