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The purpose of this paper is to analyze the contribution of the local government’s policy experiments to the development of community welfare, focusing on the political efficacy of local governments: When attempting innovative policy experiments, the cost of failure is small while the ripple effect is large. In particular, from the perspective of ‘cost-efficient innovation’, this paper analyzes the mechanism of local government’s welfare politics (i.e. policy experiments of local governments → improving efficiency and effectiveness of community welfare → local social innovation → enhancing citizens’ quality of life). Through these analyses, this paper argues that the welfare politics of Local Autonomous Entity, including local governments, should be activated in order to continuously develop South Korea’s community welfare. This is because it is politics that can change a series of systems and culture that surround us. This paper is divided into three parts. First, a review on the basics needed to politically understand South Korea’s community welfare. Second, an exploration on how the local government’s ‘innovative policy experiments’ are developing community welfare. Third, an emphasis on the significance of politics in the development of community welfare, and some suggestions for vitalizing the welfare politics of local governments in South Korea.

In South Korea, low fertility rate has become a big social issue, making the term ‘ultra low fertility rate’ common. Currently, South Korea, like many other leading industrialized countries, is coping with the problem of low fertility with a focus on the work-life balance policy. Unfortunately, South Korea’s work-life balance policy has been criticized as not so successful. Especially, it has been pointed out that the policy effects are being compromised because ‘it is not because there is no system, but the existing system does not work properly.’ This means that work-life balance policy in South Korea has a structural and fundamental problem. In this regard, it is necessary to reflect on policy discourses and instruments that determine the goals, directions and content of the policy. The result of the analysis in this paper reveals that South Korea’s work-life balance policy consists of the discourse of ‘raising the fertility rate’ and its policy instruments. It mobilizes citizens for the national goals of social reproduction and sustainable growth. It could be said that this reversal of purpose and means was because the policy makers and executives were buried in developmentalist thinking―in pursuit of materialistic social development. In this respect, in order for South Korea’s work-life balance policy to be on its way, it is urgently required that it should shift its policy paradigm to change practices and cultures. This paper argues that such a paradigm shift should be based on a ‘Social Quality Approach’. Only when we pursue humanistic social development in the planning and implementation of policies and continue to monitor and supplement related systems under this stance, can we achieve a stable and effective work-life balance policy.