Mission of the Korean Association of Law and Politics

- Law in the modern period demands social participation within a constitutional order, thus reaching beyond theoretical exploration. Studies of law conducted thus far, however, tend to be lopsided toward theories of analyses and systems, resulting in vague rhetoric that has little to do with real life.

- If law insists on limiting itself to its classical properties, regardless of the ever changing nature of human lives and relationships, the gap between legal codes and real life will carry on widening in the days ahead. That is why there is a growing insistence that legal scholars take greater interest in the formulation of practical laws that seek to provide legal and policy-focused solutions to social problems, rather than merely producing visionary rhetoric.

- The Korean Association of Law and Politics (KALP) is Korea’s first academic society established to specialize in law and policy and thereby reflect the demands of our era.

- One may conclude that the establishment of legal order ultimately depends on legislation and adjudication. But what is more crucial is the raising of questions on various social issues from legal viewpoints and reflecting the answers in the process of shaping and revising laws. This is the real role of a legal policy.

- Legal questions related with social issues do not generate problems that are limited to any one legal field, such as civil law, criminal law or administrative law, but also problems relating to legal relationships involving different legal fields. Finding an effective legal solution requires, therefore, a fusion of different legal fields, or a multi-disciplinary approach. In addition, the resolution of a social problem requires a scientific approach to the entire process, such as the design of the legal system, the identification of problems and the removal of discrepancies, the establishment of follow-up measures, and assessment and analysis of their impacts. That explains why we need inter-disciplinary studies that connect knowledge of law with that of other fields, including economics, politics, natural science, and applied science.

- Established to meet the legal and law-related demands of our society, the KALP focuses on the more practical side of law with the aim of providing viable and comprehensive legislative measures formulated through inter-disciplinary studies that go beyond the current interpretative rules.

- In an effort to promote research on the various legal systems of our society and to find effective measures for addressing social problems, the KALP hosts academic seminars on a regular and irregular basis jointly with other individual experts, groups, and governmental organizations.

- The KALP also publishes and distributes its scholarly journal on a regular basis, thereby making available the diverse presentations, discussions and research papers delivered and conducted at our seminars to other researchers and administrators seeking practical information. Last but not least, the KALP also helps the organizations responsible for designing and operating the legal system by offering them materials which they can use productively in the establishment and fulfillment of their duties.