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Jae-Hyuk Shin

Korea University · Social Sciences

About the Lab

Professor Jae-Hyuk Shin's research focuses on the institutional and behavioral foundations of democratic politics in new and developing democracies, with a particular emphasis on clientelism, legislative behavior, and electoral institutions. His work explores how patronage politics, pork-barrel legislation, and candidate-centered electoral systems emerge from the interplay between voter demands for individualized benefits and the supply of resources by officeholders. He investigates the microfoundations of legislative discipline, party switching, and cabinet stability in presidential and semi-presidential systems, especially in East and Southeast Asia. His research combines original quantitative data with institutional analysis to understand how political institutions shape representation and accountability.

clientelismpork-barrel politicselectoral institutionslegislative behaviornew democracies

Research Overview

Papers
34
Total Citations
171
Papers (5y)
14
Primary Field
Social Sciences

Research Output Trend

Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.

Publications per year (5y)
14total
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
Citations per year (5y)
15total
20192020202120222023

Selected Papers

15
1
Article|39 citations·2015
Voter Demands for Patronage: Evidence from Indonesia
Jae Hyeok Shin
SJR Q2Journal of East Asian StudiesOA

In this article I seek to explain the microfoundations of patronage politics in the developing world. Two distinct approaches have evolved in the literature. One puts emphasis on the demand side, arguing that patronage persists because poor voters tend to desire individualistic goods over policy. The other focuses on the supply side: few politicians offer programmatic policy, so voters have no alternative but to vote for the politicians who distribute patronage. In this study I test those compet

Political Science and International RelationsSocial Sciences
2
Article|38 citations·2015
Legislative Voting Behaviour in the Regional Party System: An Analysis of Roll-Call Votes in the South Korean National Assembly, 2000–8
Jae Hyeok Shin, Hojun Lee
SJR Q1Government and OppositionOA

This article explores legislative voting behaviour in the regional party system where electoral competition is based primarily on geographic divisions instead of national public policies. An analysis of roll-call votes in the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea from 2000 to 2008 reveals that in the regionalized context, legislative voting unity is high because legislators are disciplined to receive endorsement from their regional champion party. Those legislators are far more disciplined

Political Science and International RelationsSocial Sciences
3
Article|15 citations·2015
The choice of candidate-centered electoral systems in new democracies
Jae Hyeok Shin
SJR Q1Party Politics

Most studies of candidate-centered electoral systems, that encourage politicians to seek personal votes, have focused on the impact of such institutions. This paper focuses instead on their origins in new democracies. It hypothesizes that voter demands for local and individual benefits and party access to government resources for such benefits are likely to lead politicians to choose a candidate-centered electoral rule during a transition to democracy. Cross-national quantitative studies of 97 n

Political Science and International RelationsSocial Sciences
4
Article|13 citations·2013
Voter Demands, Access to Resources, and Party Switching: Evidence from the South Korean National Assembly, 1988–2008
Jae Hyeok Shin
SJR Q2Japanese Journal of Political Science

Abstract This paper investigates why some legislators tend to switch parties frequently – which is believed to undermine effective representation of citizen interests in democracies – while others tend to stay put. On the assumption that the ultimate goal of legislators is to be reelected, I argue that voters' demands for local/individual benefits, or pork, and legislators' lack of access to resources for such benefits are likely to lead the legislators to switch parties in order to improve thei

Political Science and International RelationsSocial Sciences
5
Article|11 citations·2015
Voter Demands for Patronage: Evidence from Indonesia
신재혁
Journal of East Asian Studies

In this article I seek to explain the microfoundations of patronage politics in the developing world. Two distinct approaches have evolved in the literature. One puts emphasis on the demand side, arguing that patronage persists because poor voters tend to desire individualistic goods over policy. The other focuses on the supply side: few politicians offer programmatic policy, so voters have no alternative but to vote for the politicians who distribute patronage. In this study I test those compet

6
Article|9 citations·2013
Cabinet Duration in Presidential Democracies
Jae Hyeok Shin
SJR Q1Political Science Quarterly

Journal Article Cabinet Duration in Presidential Democracies Get access Jae Hyeok Shin Jae Hyeok Shin JAE HYEOK SHIN is an assistant professor of political science and international relations at Korea University and is a specialist on political institutions, elections, and legislative politics in new democracies. His work has appeared in journals including Democratization and in Party Politics in Southeast Asia: Clientelism and Electoral Competition in Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines. S

Political Science and International RelationsSocial Sciences
7
Article|6 citations·2019
싱가포르는 왜 민주화되지 않는가? 비교연구 방법을 활용한 지역연구
신재혁

현지조사를 통해 특정 국가나 지역의 맥락을 깊이 있게 이해함으로써 관심 사 안에 대한 답을 구하는 단일사례연구가 전통적인 지역연구의 방법이라 할 수 있다. 본 논문은 아직 민주주의로의 전환을 경험하지 않은 싱가포르를 사례로 비교연구 방법을 활용하는 지역연구의 예를 제시한다. 지역연구에서 비교연 구 방법을 활용하면 단일 사례로부터 관찰한 연구 질문의 중요성을 높이고, 주 장의 타당성을 높이며, 사회과학 이론 발전에도 기여할 수 있다.

8
Article|5 citations·2011
The choice of electoral systems in new democracies: a case study of South Korea in 1988
Jae Hyeok Shin
SJR Q1Democratization

Most theories about electoral system choice are based on the experiences of Western European countries, many of which shifted from majority/plurality rule to proportional representation (PR) at the turn of the twentieth century. This article aims to explain the choice of the South Korean legislative electoral system in 1988 as an example of electoral institution choices in new democracies, which may be different from those in the Western European countries. Through analysing multiple steps leadi

Political Science and International RelationsSocial Sciences
9
Article|4 citations·2022
발전국가와 약탈국가의 기원 : 한국과 필리핀 비교 사례 연구
신재혁, 이동일

이 논문의 목적은 제2차 세계대전 이후 전 세계의 저개발 시장경제 국가들 가운데 한국, 대만, 싱가포르에서는 발전국가가 등장하여 경제성장이 크게 촉진된 반면, 필리핀과 같은 나라들에서는 약탈국가가 출현하여 경제성장이 지체된 이유를 설명하는 것이다. 이에 대해 본 논문에서는 체계적 취약성을 지닌 국가 지도자가 정치적 경쟁자와 정책 대결을 주로 벌여야 한다면 발전국가가 출현하지만, 선심 대결에 몰두해야 한다면 약탈국가가 출현할 수 있다고 주장한다. 그리고 이러한 주장은 한국의 박정희와 필리핀의 페르디난드 마르코스 비교 사례 연구를 통해 뒷받침하였다. 이를 통해 본 논문은 발전국가를 유도하는 중요한 요인으로 국가 내 엘리트들 간의 정치경쟁의 양상을 제시하였고, 이는 세계의 많은 저개발 국가들이 왜 여전히 빈곤 상태에서 벗어나지 못하고 있는지에 대해 새로운 시각을 제공한다.

10
Article|3 citations·2021
Electoral Continuity and Change in South Korea since Democratization
Jae Hyeok Shin, Hojun Lee, Suk Jae Hur
SJR Q2Asian Survey

The literature on South Korean elections has shown that voters’ region, ideology, and generation shape their preferences at the polls. Few studies, however, have investigated the long-term effects of these variables or the difference in the effects of ideology and generation between regions. In this article, we generate theoretical expectations of Korean voters’ voting behavior, analyzing cleavage structures in the party system since democratization, and we then examine the interactive effects o

Political Science and International RelationsSocial Sciences
11
Article|3 citations·2018
Legislative voting in the pork-dominant parliament: evidence from the Philippine House of Representatives
Jae Hyeok Shin
SJR Q1Journal of Legislative Studies

In this paper I investigate how legislators behave in extremely pork-oriented, or pork-dominant, systems where virtually no party-line voting takes place and politicians strive to deliver individual/local benefits instead of national public policies. I argue that, in the pork-dominant context, most legislators vote with the president, who controls access to the pork pipeline, irrespective of their party affiliations. Thus, the president’s party legislators should have little incentive to vote ag

Political Science and International RelationsSocial Sciences
12
Article|3 citations·2015
공간모형을 이용한 정치현상 분석
신재혁

정치학에서 공간모형이란 정치 현상을 설명하기 위하여 점, 선, 곡선등을 사용하는 시각적 비유를 뜻한다. 본 논문의 목적은 공간모형을 간략하게 소개하고 공간모형이 과학적 사회과학 방법론으로서 갖는 의의를 논하는 것이다. 구체적으로, 본 논문은 널리 쓰이는 공간모형들 가운데 다운스 모형과 거부권 행사자 이론, 연정 수립 모형을 소개하고, 이를 이용 혹은 응용하여 정치적 결과를 분석한 연구의 예를 제시한 후, 공간모형이 정치현상을 과학적으로 설명하는데 어떠한 기여를 할 수 있는가를 논한다.

13
Article|2 citations·2011
Why Personalistic Parties?: The Choice of Candidate-Centered Electoral Rules in New Democracies
Jae Hyeok Shin
SSRN Electronic JournalOA

Why do personalistic parties, which are undisciplined and focused on delivering individual/local benefits, flourish in some developing democracies? Many scholars argue that these parties thrive because of candidate-centered electoral rules, which encourage candidates to cultivate personal reputations with constituents instead of party policy reputations. Yet it is seldom obvious why such rules were adopted in the first place. To explain this puzzle, I examine two new democracies in Southeast Asi

Sociology and Political ScienceSocial Sciences
14
Article|1 citations·2023
Foreign aid, soft power, and domestic government legitimacy: experimental evidence from South Korean aid to Indonesia
Jae Hyeok Shin, Young Soo Kim, Han Il Chang
SJR Q2International Politics
DevelopmentSocial Sciences
15
Article|1 citations·2015
동남아시아 신생민주주의 정당체제 비교 연구:선거제도와 정당체제의 파편성
신재혁

본 논문은 동남아시아 신생민주주의 정당체제의 파편성에 영향을미치는 제도적 요인을 분석하는 것을 목적으로 한다. 민주주의 시기미얀마와 필리핀, 태국, 인도네시아의 정당체제는 파편성에 있어서국가와 시기에 따라 상당한 편차를 나타낸다. 본 연구는 선거제도의차이가 이러한 파편성의 차이를 초래하였다고 주장한다. 논문의 주요 발견들은 다음과 같다. 첫째, 득표가 의석으로 전환되는 방식과선거구의 크기(district magnitude)가 집합 수준의 정당체제 파편성에영향을 미친다. 다수대표제에 비하여 비례대표제 하에서, 그리고 소선거구제에 비하여 중대선거구제 하에서 파편성은 증가한다. 둘째,선거구 크기와 대통령의 재선 가능 여부가 개별 수준의 정당체제 파편성에 영향을 미친다. 소선거구에서 당선되는 국회의원들의 비율이증가할수록, 그리고 동시선거에서 대통령의 재선이 허용되거나 현직수상의 정당이 총선에 참여할 때 파편성은 감소한다.

Research Areas

Political Science and International RelationsSociology and Political ScienceCultural StudiesAerospace EngineeringDevelopmentGender Studies

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