Developmental Transformation In South Korea

South Korea's path toward a higher quality of life has been a dynamic process, Suh shows, shaped by historical contingencies, some immutable logic of capitalist development, and a dialectical relationship between the state and Korean civil society. Debunking the illusion of democracy and myths of self-regulating capitalism in South Korea, Suh shows that a growth machine is not a panacea for the development of human beings and their quality of life. If instead the raison d'etre of quality of life depended upon a robust civil society operating under fair rules of the game by the state, the developmental road would be more promising. Suh seeks to test the hypothesis that the rising tide of economic growth will raise all boats in the Korean sea, remapping its structural pressure points which have been submerged at high tide. Given the high levels of economic growth generated by state intervention, any demand of distributive justice necessitates egailitarian reforms. As Suh shows, the present South Korean situation goes straight to the heart of theoretical questions about the enduring structures of capitalism, and its promise to improve average living standards and to link the redistribution of economic rewards to enhanced economic performance of the system as a whole. South Korea's path to quality of life has been a dynamic process, Suh shows, determined by historical contingencies, with some immutable logic of capitalist development, and a dialectical relationship between the state and Korean civil society. A study of particular interest to scholars, researchers, and policy makers concerned with political economy and social-economic development and East Asian Studies.

This book characterizes South Korea’s pre-neoliberal regime of social governance as developmental liberalism and analyzes the turbulent processes and complex outcomes of its neoliberal degeneration since the mid-1990s. Instead of repeating the politically charged critical view on South Korea’s failure in socially inclusionary and sustainable development, the author closely examines the systemic interfaces of the economic, political, and social constituents of its developmental transformation. South Korea has turned and remained developmentally liberal, rather than liberally liberal (like the United States), in its economic and sociopolitical configuration of social security, labor protection, population, education, and so forth. Initially conceived in the late 1980s, ironically along its democratic restoration, and radically accelerated during the national financial crisis in the late 1990s, South Korea’s neoliberal transition has become incomparably volatile and destructive, due crucially to its various distortive effects on the country’s developmental liberal order.

This volume explores South Korea's successful transition from an underdeveloped, authoritarian country to a modern industrialized democracy. South Korea's experience of foreign aid gives a unique perspective on how to use foreign aid for economic development as well as how to build a strong partnership between developed and developing countries.

During recent decades, Korea has been one of only a handful of countries that have made the successful transformation to become a developed nation by simultaneously achieving persistent economic growth combined with a democratic political system. Experts and political leaders worldwide have attributed this achievement to investments in people or, in other words, the power of education. Whilst numerous books have highlighted the role of industrial policies, technological growth, and international trade in Korea’s development process, this is one of the first to focus on the role of human capital. It shows how the accumulation of human capital aided transformation and helps explain the policies, strategies and challenges that Korea faces now and in the future.

This analysis of South Korea's development experience can present lessons for development in the 21st century. Situating the development experience of South Korea within the framework of the capability enhancing state, this volume examines the empowering institutions and policies of South Korea between 1945 and 2000.

This study provides a comprehensive overview of Korea's macroeconomic growth and structural change since World War II. The authors explore in detail colonial development, changing national income patterns, relative price shifts, sources of aggregate growth, and sources of sectoral structural change, comparing them with other countries.

This book explores the variations in the transformation of the Asian developmental state in South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. Based on an original theory, the author argues that these variations are influenced by two factors: industrial structure and democratic transition, both of which are shaped by the strategic calculations of the ruling elites to maintain power. The theory concerns two concurrent political processes during the state’s development process, namely the emergence of economic interest groups with varying levels of policy constraints on the state; and the process of democratic transition driven by the rise of the middle class. The book will appeal to students and researchers in the fields of Asian politics, development studies, political economy and comparative politics.

This book explores the dynamic changes now taking place in the South Korean government as a result of recent social and economic liberalization. Sung Deuk Hahm and L. Christopher Plein trace the emergence in Korea of a post-developmental state, in which both increasingly autonomous capital interests and growing public expectations of a higher quality of life challenge existing authoritarian institutions. Separating out the constituent parts of the Korean state, they then explore the evolving roles of the Korean presidency and bureaucracy in setting national policy. The authors analyze the importance of social and cultural factors, as well as the motives of individual political actors, in shaping institutional change in Korea. They show how shifting socioeconomic conditions have altered the way political decisions are made. Hahm and Plein illustrate these transitions with concrete examples of policy making in the area of technology development and transfer--an area of critical importance to Korea's rapid modernization.