Korea's New Techno-Scientific State

Abstract

The article aims to map the process of transformation in the Korean ‘developmental state’ which is evolving into a new ‘techno-scientific state’. In the past, the Korean ‘developmental state’ directed national economic development by decisively controlling the entire financial system. However, after successfully leading economic change for half a century, the role of the Korean state appears to be drastically diminished.

The literature that deals with this issue tends to focus on the demise of the ‘developmental state’ and discusses the ‘post-developmental minimalist state’. However, it clearly ignores the strategic role of the state in creating a distinct ‘techno-scientific’ ethos, which has been critical in enhancing Korea's industrial competitiveness in the face of the established Japanese and the emerging Chinese challenges.

The hypothesis is that the linkages between techno-scientific and techno-industrial progress can be firmly established only by state power because (a) market forces can push innovation in the same or similar techno-industrial sector but not in a distinct techno-scientific sphere; (b) high uncertainty and high-risk factors constrain the ability of market actors to invent new techno-scientific frontiers.

Theoretically, this article is sceptical about the rationale of the neo-liberal ‘minimalist state’ and argues for an enhanced but transformed role of the state in supporting the techno-scientific regime formation. It provides empirical evidence from the experiences of the transforming Korean state. This article argues that the vast policy experience of the Korean State in engineering the ‘economic miracle on the Han River’ can be utilised to establish a distinct techno-scientific regime that can help create a new techno-industrial sector.