권력분립원리의 현대적 상황과 헌법적 대응

Abstract

In this study, I reviewed the historical development of the principle of separation of powers, and examined its practical implications, new directions, and contents in the contemporary situation. I also examined the problems and limitations of the power control devices in Korean constitutional practice, and based on this, I explored constitutional countermeasures to actualize the principle of separation of powers in the future. Recently, our society is facing serious threats to the existence of human communities and the value of human existence due to severe climate change, rapidly declining birth rates, and the emergence of generative artificial intelligence. In addition, with the entry of the super-elderly society, difficult tasks such as creating jobs for the elderly, expanding the care benefit system, and reforming public pensions are waiting for the state to play an active role. These recent developments require us to look at the principle of separation of powers from a new perspective that is far different from the traditional separation of state functions. In order to respond immediately and proactively to the serious threats facing individuals and communities, the state must be able to effectively mobilize all the capabilities and resources of the state in an emergency to ensure the right to life, secure the safety of citizens, and preserve the existence of communities. However, once consolidated, power tends to stay consolidated, and there is a risk that it will soon become a mechanism to suppress human freedoms and monitor civil society. It is necessary to ensure that the functions of the state can be organically combined and utilized in a unified manner during emergencies, but with the resilience to revert to the decentralized powers of the past as soon as normalcy returns.