‘냉전자유주의’와 한국 정치의 ‘탈자유주의적’ 전환 - 이승만과 박정희를 중심으로

초록

When discussing liberalism in Korea, one must take into account the colonial nature of liberalism. Combined with the hegemony of the capitalist world order, liberalism has often manifested certain imperialistic traits. This stems from classical liberalism, which advocated possessive individualism, the underlying colonialism of which combined with racism provided the background for the logic of “the civilizing mission.” Received by a non-Western society or a colony, liberalism not only functioned as an ideology of domination but in its encounter with anti-colonialism was sometimes incorporated into an ideology of resistance. Such paradoxical ambivalence, coming from the colonial nature of liberalism, was an inevitable characteristic of colonial liberalism. The same can be said of Korea’s case. In examining the liberal aspects of the political ideologies of Rhee Syngman and Park Chung Hee, it is important to pay attention to the changes that were happening in the Cold War along with the Cold War liberalism of the United States and the ordoliberalism of West Germany. With the Korean War, the Cold War was rapidly militarized, but entered a stable phase in the 1960s as it became politicized. The militarization and politicization of the Cold War were strongly connected with the changes in the political ideologies of the 1950s and the 1960s. In conjunction with an intense anti-communism, the Cold War liberalism of the United States deeply affected the anti-communist liberalism upheld by Rhee Syngman while also helping to stabilize his regime. On the other hand, the West German model of development based on ordoliberalism and a “policy of triumph over communism” through power had a tremendous influence on Park Chung Hee. It provided the source for Park’s relentless pursuit of economic growth under the flag of “homeland modernization.” Although the Cold War liberalism of Rhee Syngman advocated liberal values, patriotism always took priority. Rhee put a great amount of faith in the liberal economic order, too. Contrarily, to Park Chung Hee, liberal individualism was essentially something that should defer to “the value of the greater freedom.” In what can be termed a postliberal turn, Park’s regime was able to gain some latitude to evade the liberal regulations of the world system. Park also attempted to monistically redefine democracy, thereby mobilizing nationalism in pursuit of the modernization of Korea.

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