The politics of decentralisation in Korea

Local Government Studies

Volumn 22, Issue 3, 1996, Pages 60-71

  Lee, Jong Soo ^a  

^a Yonsei University   (South Korea)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ADMINISTRATIVE DECENTRALISATION; DECENTRALISATION; DEVELOPING COUNTRY; LOCAL GOVERNMENT; POLITICAL CHANGE;

KOREA(SOUTH);

EID: 2542571256     PISSN: 03003930     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/03003939608433830     Document Type: Article

References (15)

1. Timothy Barnekov, Robin Boyle and Daniel Rich, Privatism and Urban Policy in Britain and the United States (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989), p.181; N.P. Barry, The New Right (London: Croom Helm, 1987); A. Gamble, The Free Economy and the Strong State: The Politics of Thatcherism (London: Macmillan, 1989); N. Johnson, Reconstructing the Welfare State: A Decade of Change 1980-1990 (London: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1990).
2. Timothy Barnekov, Robin Boyle and Daniel Rich, Privatism and Urban Policy in Britain and the United States (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989), p.181; N.P. Barry, The New Right (London: Croom Helm, 1987); A. Gamble, The Free Economy and the Strong State: The Politics of Thatcherism (London: Macmillan, 1989); N. Johnson, Reconstructing the Welfare State: A Decade of Change 1980-1990 (London: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1990).
3. Timothy Barnekov, Robin Boyle and Daniel Rich, Privatism and Urban Policy in Britain and the United States (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989), p.181; N.P. Barry, The New Right (London: Croom Helm, 1987); A. Gamble, The Free Economy and the Strong State: The Politics of Thatcherism (London: Macmillan, 1989); N. Johnson, Reconstructing the Welfare State: A Decade of Change 1980-1990 (London: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1990).
4. Timothy Barnekov, Robin Boyle and Daniel Rich, Privatism and Urban Policy in Britain and the United States (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989), p.181; N.P. Barry, The New Right (London: Croom Helm, 1987); A. Gamble, The Free Economy and the Strong State: The Politics of Thatcherism (London: Macmillan, 1989); N. Johnson, Reconstructing the Welfare State: A Decade of Change 1980-1990 (London: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1990).
5. James Cotton, 'Understanding the State in South Korea', Political Studies, Vol.37 (1992), pp.244-59.
6. In fact, local government has become an almost universal feature of modern states since Jeremy Bentham, the father of the Utilitarian school, invented the term 'local government'. There has been an ongoing debate on the problem of what should be the appropriate functions of local authorities not only in Korea but also in European democracies.
7. It is beyond the scope of this article to examine the full extent of the impact. This study is concerned mainly with the background of decentralisation movements.
8. Young Whan Kihl, 'South Korea in 1989: Slow Progress Toward Democracy', Asian Survey, Vol.30, No.1 (1990), p.67.
9. Interestingly, the fidelity of the opposition parties became very much weakened in negotiations. Since MPs were afraid that their authority would be eroded by the establishment of representative bodies through direct election at local levels, they were not anxious to speed up the negotiations.
10. KDI, Hanguk Chaejong 40 Nyonsa (Forty Years of Korean Fiscal Policy), Vol.4 (Seoul, 1991), p.20.
11. In the local government of European countries, no single trend can be found, although a universal language of reform does seem to recur in all the countries. A radical centralisation in Britain is observed and a relative centralism is identified in Japan (Elliott, 1989, 75). On the other hand, reforms favour decentralisation in the centralised states which had only one direction to go like Portugal, Spain and perhaps France (Batley and Stoker, 1991, 210). Current reforms in Germany, the Netherlands and Italy are more narrowly directed to new forms of service delivery often in response to financial cuts. Batley notes that the search for new relationships between citizens and central governments is widespread though usually less urgently pursued than in Britain. See James Elliot, 'Local Government Under Attack - The Case of Japan', Local Government Studies, Vol.15, No.2 (1989), pp.67-75; and Richard Batley and Gerry Stoker (eds.), Local Government in Europe (London: Macmillan, 1991).
12. In the local government of European countries, no single trend can be found, although a universal language of reform does seem to recur in all the countries. A radical centralisation in Britain is observed and a relative centralism is identified in Japan (Elliott, 1989, 75). On the other hand, reforms favour decentralisation in the centralised states which had only one direction to go like Portugal, Spain and perhaps France (Batley and Stoker, 1991, 210). Current reforms in Germany, the Netherlands and Italy are more narrowly directed to new forms of service delivery often in response to financial cuts. Batley notes that the search for new relationships between citizens and central governments is widespread though usually less urgently pursued than in Britain. See James Elliot, 'Local Government Under Attack - The Case of Japan', Local Government Studies, Vol.15, No.2 (1989), pp.67-75; and Richard Batley and Gerry Stoker (eds.), Local Government in Europe (London: Macmillan, 1991).
13. Since the pluralistic values of local government tend to be overestimated in Korea, decentralisation is often taken to be the same as local self-government and local autonomy. The literal translation of the Act would be the 'Act of Local Self-Government'. In order to avoid unnecessary confusion it is translated into 'Local Government Act' in this article. The Act originally came into force in 1949 and seven amendments have been made to it so far.
14. Dieter Grunow, 'Customer-Oriented Service Delivery in German Local Administration', in Batley and Stoker (eds.), Local Government in Europe, p.75.
15. B.C. Smith, Decentralization: The Territorial Dimension of the State (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1985).