Attitudes towards judicial review in Japan and South Korea: indications for the existence of a liberal-democratic civic culture

Though very close geographically and culturally, postwar Japan and the Republic of Korea - both non-classical Western democracies - each experienced a very different democratization process and adopted a different kind of democratic regime. This is strongly expressed in the form of their judicial review mechanisms that are aimed in different ways at assisting citizens in encouraging the courts to review laws and policies. Given this backdrop, through the analysis of the attitudes of the Japanese and Korea's citizens to their judicial review mechanisms we search for civic attitudes in these societies. By doing so, we try to contribute to the great debate regarding the capability of non-Western societies that did not develop from a well-rooted liberal culture to adopt and internalize liberal-democratic values.