How to Get Away with Impeachment: Impeachment as a Political Contention and its Impact on Political (In)Stability

This article argues that political stability following a presidential removal depends on the resolution of contention. The study identifies that resolution of contention is the key to postremoval political stability and traces the origin of personalised contention to the degree of party institutionalisation. This article proposes two empirical cases to demonstrate this hypothesis, Brazil and South Korea. Brazil represents strongly institutionalised party state while South Korea represents weakly institutionalised party state for comparison. The article concludes that weakly institutionalised party state is prone to personalised politics and, when faced with political crisis, contention becomes highly personalised. As presidential impeachment removes incumbent alone, the personalised contention may be resolved through the removal of the individual and political stability can be restored. The opposite may hold true; in a party-centric political landscape with strongly institutionalised parties, contention is less likely to be personalised, therefore removal of a single individual may not be sufficient to resolve the contention. The prolonged contention is likely to be radicalised, further destabilising national politics.