The Economic And Social Modernization Of The Republic Of Korea

Preliminary Material -- Introduction -- Modernization in the Third World and in Korea -- The Historical Foundations of Modern Economic Growth -- Economic Development in Macroeconomic Terms, 1953-1976 -- Industrialization and Foreign Trade -- Foreign Assistance and Korean Development -- Rural Development -- Government and Business -- Korean Fiscal and Financial Development -- Education -- Population, Urbanization, and Health -- Income Distribution -- Summary and Conclusions -- Notes -- Selected Bibliography -- Index -- Harvard East Asian Monographs.

Explores the economic and social development of Korea, primarily in the twentieth century. Includes extensive statistical data. Examines the impact of Japanese colonialism and subsequent macroeconomic development, industrialization, rural development, fiscal and financial development, income distribution, the development of foreign trade, the role of education, foreign assistance, and urbanization. Includes 134 tables and 10 figures summarizing historical statistical data.

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 concentrates on the process of economic growth, for which Korea today is renowned. It examines some of the salient forces that helped to produce Korea's remarkable change and explores the evolution of the class structure in Korea and the changes it is now experiencing.

This edited collection traces the social, economic, political, and cultural dimensions of Korea’s dramatic transformation since the late nineteenth century. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, the chapters examine the internal and external forces which facilitated the transition towards industrial capitalism in Korea, the consequences and impact of social change, and the ways in which Korean tradition continues to inform and influence contemporary South Korean society. Transformations in Twentieth Century Korea employs a thematic structure to discuss the interrelated elements of Korea’s modernization within agriculture, business and the economy, the state, ideology and culture, and gender and the family. The essays in this volume encompass the Choson dynasty, the colonial period, and postcolonial Korea. Collectively, they provide us with an original and innovative approach to the study of modern Korea, and show how knowledge of the country’s past is critical to understanding contemporary Korean society. With contributions from a number of prominent international scholars within sociology, economics, history, and political science, Transformations in Twentieth Century Korea incorporates a global framework of historical narrative, ideology and culture, and statistical and economic analysis to further our understanding of Korea’s evolution towards modernity.

There are two great mysteries in the political economy of South Korea. How could a destroyed country in next to no time become a sophisticated and affluent economy? And how could a ruthlessly authoritarian regime metamorphose with relative ease into a stable democratic polity? South Korea was long ruled with harsh authoritarianism, but, strangely, the authoritarian rulers made energetic use of social policy. The Korean State and Social Policy observes South Korean public policy from 1945 to 2000 through the prism of social policy to examine how the rulers operated and worked. After the military coup in 1961, the new leaders used social policy to buy themselves legitimacy. That enabled them to rule in two very different ways simultaneously. In their determination to hold on to power they were without mercy, but in the use of power in governance, their strategy was to co-opt and mobilize with a sophistication that is wholly exceptional among authoritarian rulers. It is governance and not power that explains the Korean miracle. Mobilization is a strategy with consequences. South Korea was not only led to economic development but also, inadvertently perhaps, built up as a society rich in public and civil institutions. When authoritarianism collapsed under the force of nationwide uprisings in 1987, the institutions of a reasonably pluralistic social and political order were there, alive and well, and democracy could take over without further serious drama. This book is about many things: development and modernization, dictatorship and democracy, state capacity and governance, social protection and welfare states, and Korean history. But finally it is about lifting social policy analysis out of the ghetto of self-sufficiency it is often confined to and into the center ground of hard political science.