TESTING POLITICAL-PARTY INSTITUTIONALIZATION - A THEORY AND PRACTICE

The terms in which ''political party institutionalization'' is theoriz ed remain vague because recent studies do not adequately address the p roblem of how to measure ''party institutionalization'' in developing countries. The aint of this paper is to build a theory using specific indicators to measure the trend of political pal ty institutionalizati on and to apply it to South Korea as one example of developing nations . Political party institutionalization is a multifaceted concept to be simultaneously tested by functional characteristics and organizationa l characteristics. In order to investigate both characteristics, the p aper will investigate three dimensions in evaluating the trend of poli tical party institutionalization: the electorate, the organization, an d the legislative process. Given the results of theoretical applicatio n and empirical investigation, the trend toward political party instit utionalization in South Korea is found to be a positive one.