Pathways to State Welfare in Korea ― Interests, Ideas And Institutions

Among the puzzling aspects of the history of Korea's provision of social protection, according to Hwang (U. of Birmingham, UK) is the fact that many social provisions were introduced by authoritarian military regimes characterized by many analysts as typifying the developmental state, singularly committed to economic development, as well as the observation that, during the more democratic period, more social protections were introduced during a period of economic downturn. In seeking to unravel these and other mysteries, Hwang looks at particular policy making episodes and analyzes the institutional pathways in which the interests of central political actors, the institutional rules of the game, and policy ideas interact, arguing that these pathways pre-determine policy outcomes in many respects. Annotation c2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Gyu-Jin Hwang at the Department of Sociology and Social Policy, The University of Sydney, Australia.