Peace activist publishes 'Mosaic Democracy,' calling for two-thirds consensus rule

Peace and reunification activist Baek Wang-sun has published "Mosaic Democracy," a book proposing a new democratic model in response to winner-take-all politics, the climate crisis and the sweeping transformation brought by AI.

In the book, Baek declares the end of the so-called 1987 system — the constitutional framework established after South Korea's democratic transition — and proposes a wholesale redesign of the country based on what he calls an "organic worldview." The core premise is that all solutions flow from the idea that "we are all connected and constantly changing."

Baek argues that South Korean society is trapped in a binary worldview in which one side must destroy the other to survive, and offers "mosaic democracy" — a model built on harmony among its members — as an alternative.

As a political reform, he proposes institutionalizing a requirement that major national decisions on issues such as pension, education and energy clear a supermajority threshold of at least two-thirds social consensus. He argues this would open the door to a "Seventh Republic" capable of mutual prosperity and lasting progress.

On the climate crisis, Baek proposes a "hydrogen piggy bank" that stores electricity in material form, and the creation of citizen-owned "energy commons."

He views the age of AI and robots replacing human labor as "an opportunity for mutual benefit," and outlines plans for a robot tax to prevent wealth concentration, with the proceeds returned to citizens as a "digital dividend."

Baek stresses the need to design what he calls an "architecture of consensus" — securing community stability through a supermajority agreement of at least two-thirds. "We must choose whether to be shards that pierce the world or joints that connect its conflicts," he wrote. "Each of South Korea's 50 million citizens determines the fate of the great mosaic that is this country."

Baek graduated from Sungkyunkwan University with a degree in philosophy and went on to work in student and labor movements before serving as a director and deputy head of D.Opinion, a professional polling firm. In 2022, he founded the Mosaic Democracy Peace Group, which remains active.