The Korean State and Social Policy ─ How South Korea Lifted Itself from Poverty and Dictatorship to Affluence and Democracy

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.

Stein Ringen is Professor of Sociology and Social Policy and a Fellow of Green Templeton College at the University of Oxford. He is the author of, most recently, What Democracy Is For (Princeton 2007, in Korean in 2009), The Liberal Vision and Other Essays on Democracy and Progress (Oxford 2007) and The Economic Consequences of Mr. Brown: How a Strong Government was Defeated by a Weak System of Governance (Oxford 2009).

Huck-ju Kwon is Professor at Graduate School of Public Administration, Seoul National University. He serves as East Asian Regional Editor of Global Social Policy and as a member of advisory board of Journal of Social Policy. His recent publications include Transforming the Developmental Welfare State in East Asia (London 2005) and International Encyclopaedia of Social Policy (co-editor, London 2006). He has published a number of articles including most recently 'Policy learning and transfer: the experience of the developmental state in East Asia' (Policy and Politics 2009) and 'Introduction: Social Policy and Economic Development in Late Industrializers' (co-author, International Journal of Social Welfare 2009).

Ilcheong Yi is Research Coordinator of the Social Policy and Development Programme, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, Geneva. He is the author of various articles and a book, most recently, The Politics of Occupational Welfare in Korea (Hanashouin, 2007), 'Economic Development and Poverty Reduction in Korea' (Development and Change 2009), 'History in Action : the Japanese Textbook Controversy in Northeast Asia' (Japan Studies Association Journal 2009).

Taekyoon Kim is Assistant Professor at the Department of Public Policy, Ewha Womans University in Korea. He previously worked as Assistant Professor of Sociology at Waseda Institute for Advanced Study, Waseda University in Japan, as well as a visiting fellow at the Groupe d'i??tude des Mi??thodes de l'Analyse Sociologique and University of Paris IV-Sorbonne in France. His research interests include international public policy, comparative social policy, state-society relations, historical sociology of international politics, and international development. His recent articles have appeared in International Sociology, International Area Review, Social Science Journal, Korean Journal of Sociology, Civil Society and NGO, Review of International and Area Studies, and Yale Journal of International Affairs.

Jooha Lee is Assistant Professor of Public Administration at Dongguk University, Seoul. His recent work includes 'Politics of Social Policy-Making in South Korea and Japan' (The Korean Journal of Policy Studies 2008) and 'Another Dimension of Welfare Reform: The Implementation of the Employment Insurance Programme in Korea' (International Journal of Social Welfare 2009).