한국 대통령중심제 정부형태의 비교분석과 개선방안

Abstract

【 국 문 요 지 】

우리나라는 1945년 해방이후 현대국가의 체제를 구축하려고 1948년에 제헌 헌법이 제정되었으며 이후 60여 년간 9차례의 헌법 개정을 통하여 우리의 정부형태는 민주당 정부인 제2공화국에서 의원내각제 제도로써 고전적인 영국형 의원내각제를 잠시 시행하여 온 것 외에는 기본적으로 대통령제를 지금까지 유지하여 오고 있다. 그러나 자유민주주의를 기본 이념으로 하는 우리나라 대통령제는 많은 우여곡절의 역경을 이겨내며, 정치발전에 기여도 하였지만 반면에 문제점도 많았다는 점을 부인할 수 없을 것이다. 상기와 같은 헌법 개정을 거치면서 우리나라 국민들은 성숙된 정치의식 수준을 높일 수가 있었다. 이것은 적극적인 정치참여를 위한 기폭제가 되었고, 권위주의 정권과 장기집권을 저지하려는 국민들의 열망으로 나타나게 되었는데, 1987년의 범국민 민주화 항쟁은 이러한 사례이다. 민주화 항쟁은 우리정치사에 있어서 절차적 민주화를 이루는 계기가 되었다. 현재의 헌법에 의한 대통령제 정부형태는 그런 의미에서 일부의 문제점도 있지만 정치발전의 한 획을 긋는 긍정적 의미로 평가 될 수가 있을 것이다. 그러나 현재 한국대통령제의 문제점들을 살펴본다면 최대 맹점은 정치적인 무책임성과 대통령 1인에게의 과도한 권력집중화 현상이다. 먼저 정치적 무책임성은 5년 단임제에서 오는 시스템상의 문제라는 의견이 지배적인 것으로 중임제 개헌의 필요성이 있어 보인다. 또한 제왕적대통령제는 소통의 부재로 나타나 민주정치에서 필요로 하는 대화와 타협을 통한 실마리를 푸는데 도움이 되지 못하고 있다. 이것은 삼부 간에 있어서 의회와 행정부간의 갈등관계로 이어지고 현안 문제를 풀어나가는데 어려움만 주고 있어 항상 논란의 대상이 되기도 한다. 현재 정치권 일부에서는 대통령제에 대한 문제가 있음을 지적하며 그 동안 의 부작용에 대한 변경의 필요성이 학계․정치권․시민사회 등 관심 있는 지도층에서 많이 제기되었으며, 2012년 제18대 대통령 선거에서는 헌법 제정 후 우리나라 최초의 여성 대통령인 박근혜정부가 출범한 시발점에서 새누리당과 민주 통합당이 개헌 논의를 하면서 1987년의 헌법 체제에서 벗어나 새로운 체제로의 전환을 모색하고 있으며, 또한 개헌 논의를 위한 기구 설치에 합의 하고 본격적인 활동을 재개하고 있다. 개헌 논의의 큰 방향은 권력구조의 개편과 대통령의 임기를 어떻게 조정해야 되는지가 관건인 것 같다. 본 논문에서는 상기와 같은 문제점들을 염두에 두고 한국의 대통령중심제 정부형태 개선 방안과 관련하여 제2장에서는 대통령제 개선 관련 헌법의 제정 및 개정 현황을 토대로 헌법의 형식과 기본구조에서 대통령중심 정부형태 관련조항을 살펴보았고 또한 헌법의 제정·개정 현황에서는 정부 형태가 어떻게 변천되어 왔는지를 살펴보았으며, 제3장의 정부형태 일반에서는 대통령중심제, 의원내각제, 이원정부제로 대별하여 먼저 대통령중심제에서는 대통령제의 특징과 장단점을 그리고 의원내각제에서는 의원내각제의 발전과정, 특징, 운영, 불신임 결의와 국회해산권 및 장단점을 살펴보았으며, 또한 이원정부제에서는 이원정부제의 본질, 프랑스식 이원정부제의 요소 및 장단점을 분석하였다. 제4장의 정부형태별 비교분석에서는 정부형태를 크게 한국·미국의 대통령 중심제, 영국·일본의 의원내각제, 독일·프랑스의 이원집정부제로 구분하여 정치적으로 발전된 선진국의 사례를 자세히 분석해보았다. 그리고 제5장에서는 한국 대통령중심제 정부형태의 비교 분석과 개선방안으로 제2절의 개헌논의 중인 정부형태에서는 대통령제 유지를 위한 개헌, 의원내각제 개헌론, 이원정부제 개헌론을 그리고 제3절 한국정치에 실현가능성에서는 대통령중심제, 의원내각제, 이원정부제를 제4절의 현실적 대안으로는 한국정치사의 성과 및 문제점, 대통령제 유지를 위한 개헌을 그리고 구체적 개선방안 등을 검토한 후 한국의 대통령중심제 정부형태 개선방안에 대하여 심도 있게 비교하고 분석을 하였다. 상기와 같이 정부형태의 유형에서 일반적 이론과 미국의 대통령중심제, 영국과 일본의 의원내각제, 독일과 프랑스의 이원집정부제 등 정치선진국의 사례를 비교분석하여 한국대통령중심제 정부형태의 개선방안에 대해서도 검토하여 보았다. 따라서 우리 현실에 맞는 적절성 있는 대통령중심제를 선택함이 좋을 것이다. 구체적인 한국의 대통령중심제 정부형태의 개선 방안을 다음과 같이 제언하고자 한다. 첫째, 결선투표제를 도입해야한다. 국민의 직선으로 대통령이 선출되기는 하나 전체 유권자의 30%의 지지를 얻지 못하는 사람도 대통령으로 당선되어 강력한 권력을 행사한다. 이는 자기지지 세력에 의존하는 파당성을 나타내게 되는 결과를 초래한다. 프랑스의 선거 제도와 같이 결선투표제의 도입이 필요하다. 둘째, 대통령 임기를 4년 중임제로 채택하여야 한다. 현행 5년 단임제는 정치적 효율성, 안정성, 책임성 측면에서 많은 문제점을 내포하고 있다. 이러한 대안으로 4년 중임제를 채택하여 책임정치로 국정을 운영을 할 수 있으며, 재임 중에 추진하던 주요 국정과제도 효율적으로 집행이 가능하다. 셋째, 감사원의 감사기능을 이관 및 일원화해야 한다. 국정 감사권을 가지고 있는 현실에서 대통령 직속 하에 감사원을 두는 것은 이중적인 감사 기능으로 문제가 있고, 현실에 있어서도 행정 기관은 국회와 감사원의 중복된 감사로 업무의 비능률을 초래하여 감사 기능을 일원화로 해야 한다. 미국의 의회와 같이 감사원의 기능을 국회 소속으로 해야 하는 필요성이 있다. 넷째, 국무총리에게 역할 분담을 해야 한다. 국무총리를 대통령이 임명하여 국회의 일반 정족수에 의한 동의에 의해 임명되는 제도에서 특별 정족수에 의한 동의로 개선하는 것이다. 특별 정족수에 의한 동의를 받으면 국민들에 의해 직접 선출되지 않은 것에 대한 정당성의 문제도 완화할 수 있으며 많은 국민들이 신임할 수 있는 유능하고 덕망 있는 총리를 선택 할 가능성이 높기 때문이다. 다섯째, 의원내각제적 요소를 배제하여야 한다. 우리나라는 대통령의 법률안 제출권을 인정하고 있다. 이와 같은 법률안 제출권은 의원내각제적 요소에 해당되며 대통령의 우월적 지위를 강화시키는 문제가 있고 체제 정당성에서도 잘못된 것이므로 개선하는 것이 바람직하다. 여섯째, 전직 정치지도자의 역할을 위한 헌법기관으로 명문화해야한다. 현재 국가 원로회로 전직 대통령, 국무총리 등의 역할이 단순히 자문 역할을 하며 상시적인 회의기구로 발전되지 않아 국정 운영의 기여에 있어 유명무실한 상태이다. 우리나라의 국가원로회의도 단순히 자문 역할만 하는 소극적 역할에서 벗어나 헌법에 명문화하여 소중한 국정 경험을 현실 정치에 반영할 수 있도록 개선을 해야 한다. 끝으로 한국의 정치 발전에 초석이 될 만한 헌법 개선이 필요하며 본 논문이 주장한 개선 제언 내용들이 국가 발전을 위한 모든 시스템이 잘 운영될 수 있는 한국의 대통령중심제 정부형태를 만드는 초석이 될 것 이라고 본다. |【 Abstract 】

A Comparative Analysis and Improvement Discussion of Presidential System in Korean Government

Son, Jae - Pil Department of Public administration The Graduate school of Public Policy Hanyang University

After liberation from imperial Japan in 1945, Korean constitution was established, which contained the intention to construct the system of a modern democratic nation. Since then, through 9 times' amendment for about 60 years, Korean government system has been maintaining basically presidential system, except a short period of the Second Republic, Government of Democratic Party, which had British classical parliamentary cabinet system which can be considered as an ideological form of parliamentary cabinet system. It could be, however, undeniable that Korean politics which has a basic ideology of liberal democracy has had many problems, while it has contributed to political development after much meandering. Experiencing the revisions of the constitution mentioned above, the Korean people could enhance the level of their political awareness. This triggered their active participation in politics and was expressed as their aspiration to stop long-term seizure of power and authoritarian regime, an example of which was the nation-wide democratization movement in 1987. The democratization movement became an opportunity to form a procedural democratization in our political history. In this sense, the presidential system of governmental by current constitution could be evaluated positively to mark a new ear in our political development history, though it still has some problems. When we reviewing the problems of the current Korean presidential system, the weakest points are the political irresponsibility and the excessive concentration of power to president. Firstly, it is the predominant view that the political irresponsibility is a systemic problem which comes from the 5-year single term system for the presidency, which seems to need to change to two term presidential system. And the imperial presidency is leading to the absence of communication, which can't be helpful for solving problems by communication and compromise. In turn, this leads to the conflicts between the congress and the administration in the three departments and gives more difficulties in solving the pending problems, which has always caused controversy. Recently, some people in political community point out that the presidential system has some problems and people in the leadership class of academia, political community and civil societies have raised the needs to remedy its side effects. And inaugurating the Government of Park Geun-hye who was elected as the first woman president in Korean history in the 18th presidential election of 2012, Saenuri Party and Democratic United Party are seeking for a change from the system of the constitution of 1987 to a new system by the discussion of constitutional amendment and are resuming their activities actively by agreeing to establish an organization to discuss constitutional amendment. The main direction of the discussion of constitutional amendment seems to be how to reorganize the power structure and how to adjust the presidential term. In this study, concerning the improvement plan of Korean presidential system of government based on the problems in the above, in Chapter 2, firstly we reviewed the provisions related to presidential system of governmental form in the form and basic structure of the constitution based on the establishment and revision of the constitution, examined how the forms of government have been changed in the establishment and revision of the constitution, and in Chapter 3 General Government form, we separated presidential system, parliamentary cabinet system, and two-tier government, and investigated features as well as the merits and demerits in the presidential system of government, and the development process, features, operation, and the advantages and disadvantages of a nonconfidence resolution and the dissolution of congress in parliamentary cabinet system, and analyzed the nature of two-tier government and the elements and merits and demerits of French two-tier government. In the comparative analysis by governmental form of Chapter 4, we made a through investigation into the politically-advanced countries' cases by separating governmental forms into presidential system of government of Korea and United States, parliamental cabinet system of England and Japan, and two-tier government system of Germany and France. And in Chapter 5, we compared and analyzed in depth the minimal revision of constitution to maintain current presidential system of government, the revision of constitution to parliament cabinet system, and the revision to two-tier government as the government form being discussed recently in Section 2, the presidential system of government, parliament cabinet system, and two-tier government as the feasibility in Korean politics in Section 3, and the improvement methods of Korean presidential system of government after reviewing the performance and problems of Korean political history, constitutional revision to maintain presidential system of government, and specific methods to improve as a practical alternative in Section 4. Through comparative analysis of the politically-advanced countries' cases by separating governmental forms into presidential system of government of Korea and United States, parliamental cabinet system of England and Japan, and two-tier government system of Germany and France, we reviewed the improvement methods for Korean presidential system of government. As a result of our review, it is desirous to choose a presidential system of government which fits for Korean reality. We suggest the detailed improvement methods for Korean presidential system of government as followings. Firstly, it is required to introduce the system of run-off election. Though Korean president is elected through direct election system, a president who got less than 30% of voters's support can have strong power. This can lead to factionalism which depends on his/her supporters. Therefore, it is required to introduce a run-off election such as French election system. Secondly, it is required to choose 4 year two-term presidency. Current 5 year single term presidency has many problems in the respect of political efficiency, stability and responsibility. By choosing 4 year two-term presidency as an alternative, government affairs can be operated with responsible politics, and major government affairs and system during the first term of office can be carried forward continuously and effectively. Third, audit function of the Board of Audit and Inspection should be transferred and unified. It has some problems that it is under direct control of president under the reality that it has the inspection of authority for government affairs and also it brings about inefficiency of administrative agencies' works because they receive double inspections from both congress and the Board of Audit and Inspection. Therefore, it needs to unify the function of audit. Like United States' congress, it is required that the function of the Board of Audit and Inspection belong to congress. Fourth, it is required to role sharing with prime minister. It needs to improve from the system that nominates prime minister by the consent of general quorum to the system that nominates prime minister by the consent of special quorum. When prime minister is consented with a special quorum, it is possible not only to alleviate the problem of justification that it is not selected direct from people, but also to select a prime minister who is able and venerable. Fifth, it needs to exclude the elements of parliamental cabinet system. Korean president has the right to introduce a bill to the house. This right is one of the elements of parliamental cabinet system, and it is desirable to improve it because it has problems in that it strengthens the superior status of president. Sixth, it is required to stipulate a constitutional institution for the function of ex-political leaders. Under the current system that the role of ex-presidents and ex-prime ministers is merely an advisory role and which has not yet developed to a regular organization, their function is just nominal in contributing to the operation of government affairs. It is necessary that our Advisory Council of Elder Statesman also gets out from a passive role of mere advisory and should reflect their valuable experiences of government affairs to realistic politics by stipulating it in constitution. Finally, constitutional revision that can be the foundation for the development of Korean politics is necessary, and the suggestions in this study can be the foundation to make a presidential system of government that operates all the systems for improving our nation.; 【 Abstract 】

A Comparative Analysis and Improvement Discussion of Presidential System in Korean Government

Son, Jae - Pil Department of Public administration The Graduate school of Public Policy Hanyang University

After liberation from imperial Japan in 1945, Korean constitution was established, which contained the intention to construct the system of a modern democratic nation. Since then, through 9 times' amendment for about 60 years, Korean government system has been maintaining basically presidential system, except a short period of the Second Republic, Government of Democratic Party, which had British classical parliamentary cabinet system which can be considered as an ideological form of parliamentary cabinet system. It could be, however, undeniable that Korean politics which has a basic ideology of liberal democracy has had many problems, while it has contributed to political development after much meandering. Experiencing the revisions of the constitution mentioned above, the Korean people could enhance the level of their political awareness. This triggered their active participation in politics and was expressed as their aspiration to stop long-term seizure of power and authoritarian regime, an example of which was the nation-wide democratization movement in 1987. The democratization movement became an opportunity to form a procedural democratization in our political history. In this sense, the presidential system of governmental by current constitution could be evaluated positively to mark a new ear in our political development history, though it still has some problems. When we reviewing the problems of the current Korean presidential system, the weakest points are the political irresponsibility and the excessive concentration of power to president. Firstly, it is the predominant view that the political irresponsibility is a systemic problem which comes from the 5-year single term system for the presidency, which seems to need to change to two term presidential system. And the imperial presidency is leading to the absence of communication, which can't be helpful for solving problems by communication and compromise. In turn, this leads to the conflicts between the congress and the administration in the three departments and gives more difficulties in solving the pending problems, which has always caused controversy. Recently, some people in political community point out that the presidential system has some problems and people in the leadership class of academia, political community and civil societies have raised the needs to remedy its side effects. And inaugurating the Government of Park Geun-hye who was elected as the first woman president in Korean history in the 18th presidential election of 2012, Saenuri Party and Democratic United Party are seeking for a change from the system of the constitution of 1987 to a new system by the discussion of constitutional amendment and are resuming their activities actively by agreeing to establish an organization to discuss constitutional amendment. The main direction of the discussion of constitutional amendment seems to be how to reorganize the power structure and how to adjust the presidential term. In this study, concerning the improvement plan of Korean presidential system of government based on the problems in the above, in Chapter 2, firstly we reviewed the provisions related to presidential system of governmental form in the form and basic structure of the constitution based on the establishment and revision of the constitution, examined how the forms of government have been changed in the establishment and revision of the constitution, and in Chapter 3 General Government form, we separated presidential system, parliamentary cabinet system, and two-tier government, and investigated features as well as the merits and demerits in the presidential system of government, and the development process, features, operation, and the advantages and disadvantages of a nonconfidence resolution and the dissolution of congress in parliamentary cabinet system, and analyzed the nature of two-tier government and the elements and merits and demerits of French two-tier government. In the comparative analysis by governmental form of Chapter 4, we made a through investigation into the politically-advanced countries' cases by separating governmental forms into presidential system of government of Korea and United States, parliamental cabinet system of England and Japan, and two-tier government system of Germany and France. And in Chapter 5, we compared and analyzed in depth the minimal revision of constitution to maintain current presidential system of government, the revision of constitution to parliament cabinet system, and the revision to two-tier government as the government form being discussed recently in Section 2, the presidential system of government, parliament cabinet system, and two-tier government as the feasibility in Korean politics in Section 3, and the improvement methods of Korean presidential system of government after reviewing the performance and problems of Korean political history, constitutional revision to maintain presidential system of government, and specific methods to improve as a practical alternative in Section 4. Through comparative analysis of the politically-advanced countries' cases by separating governmental forms into presidential system of government of Korea and United States, parliamental cabinet system of England and Japan, and two-tier government system of Germany and France, we reviewed the improvement methods for Korean presidential system of government. As a result of our review, it is desirous to choose a presidential system of government which fits for Korean reality. We suggest the detailed improvement methods for Korean presidential system of government as followings. Firstly, it is required to introduce the system of run-off election. Though Korean president is elected through direct election system, a president who got less than 30% of voters's support can have strong power. This can lead to factionalism which depends on his/her supporters. Therefore, it is required to introduce a run-off election such as French election system. Secondly, it is required to choose 4 year two-term presidency. Current 5 year single term presidency has many problems in the respect of political efficiency, stability and responsibility. By choosing 4 year two-term presidency as an alternative, government affairs can be operated with responsible politics, and major government affairs and system during the first term of office can be carried forward continuously and effectively. Third, audit function of the Board of Audit and Inspection should be transferred and unified. It has some problems that it is under direct control of president under the reality that it has the inspection of authority for government affairs and also it brings about inefficiency of administrative agencies' works because they receive double inspections from both congress and the Board of Audit and Inspection. Therefore, it needs to unify the function of audit. Like United States' congress, it is required that the function of the Board of Audit and Inspection belong to congress. Fourth, it is required to role sharing with prime minister. It needs to improve from the system that nominates prime minister by the consent of general quorum to the system that nominates prime minister by the consent of special quorum. When prime minister is consented with a special quorum, it is possible not only to alleviate the problem of justification that it is not selected direct from people, but also to select a prime minister who is able and venerable. Fifth, it needs to exclude the elements of parliamental cabinet system. Korean president has the right to introduce a bill to the house. This right is one of the elements of parliamental cabinet system, and it is desirable to improve it because it has problems in that it strengthens the superior status of president. Sixth, it is required to stipulate a constitutional institution for the function of ex-political leaders. Under the current system that the role of ex-presidents and ex-prime ministers is merely an advisory role and which has not yet developed to a regular organization, their function is just nominal in contributing to the operation of government affairs. It is necessary that our Advisory Council of Elder Statesman also gets out from a passive role of mere advisory and should reflect their valuable experiences of government affairs to realistic politics by stipulating it in constitution. Finally, constitutional revision that can be the foundation for the development of Korean politics is necessary, and the suggestions in this study can be the foundation to make a presidential system of government that operates all the systems for improving our nation.