A Chronological Inquiry into the Possibilities and Limitations of Institutionalizing Deliberative Democracy: Focusing on the Case of the Gyeongnam Student Human Rights Ordinance

This study provides a chronological analysis of the Gyeongnam Student Human Rights Ordinance (SHRO) initiative, pursued in three phases from 2008 to 2019. Focusing on the structure of civic participation, interaction with institutional politics, the realization of deliberative democratic conditions, and mutual dynamics, the research examines the potential and limits of institutionalizing deliberative democracy in local governance. The first phase (2008–2010) was led by civil society and succeeded in raising the policy agenda, but lacked institutional engagement and deliberative structures. In the second phase (2011–2012), citizen participation entered the institutional realm via a resident initiative and education committee deliberation. Though procedural fairness was partly achieved, the process ended with a binary vote and no follow-up institutional action. The third phase (2017–2019) institutionalized some deliberative procedures through the Education Office’s proposal and the Assembly’s neutral forums. However, biased information, civic polarization, and weak policy coordination hindered deeper deliberation. Rather than a policy failure, the Gyeongnam case illustrates both the enabling and constraining factors of deliberative democracy as a complement to representative democracy, offering insights into democratic institutional design for contentious policy issues.