From Relative Autonomy to Consensual Development: The Case of South Korea

Abstract

The success of the autonomous state in promoting rapid industrialization in South Korea from 1961 to 1987 is usually seen in terms of the state's capacity to coerce reluctant societal actors into productive economic pursuits. The economic sluggishness associated with some autonomous states suggests that any explanation of Korean economic success also needs to mention the factors that constrained bureaucratic abuse and the methods by which societal motivation behind the industrialization effort was maintained over three decades. Democratization has accentuated the capacity of societal actors to challenge the state's economic leadership but has not resulted in the emergence of an economic free for all. While similarities exist, Korea will experience greater difficulty in realizing the synthesis between developmental state and liberal-democratic polity (consensual development) that characterized postwar Japanese development.