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This paper is a comparative study of the elite capture in Pakistan and the developmental structure in South Korea. The paper seeks to examine: why does the Pakistani state remain captured by social actors, despite similar post-colonial geopolitical trajectories of Pakistan and South Korea, failing to set up a developmental state and transform into an Asian tiger? On the other hand, South Korea was able to become a developmental state and achieved high rates of social and economic growth, uplifting the living standards of the vast majority of its population. It identifies social structure and conflicting elite interest as twin independent variables explaining the divergent (outcome) dependent variable of a developmental state in South Korea and a predatory state in Pakistan. This paper refutes the neoliberal school of thought that attributes the success of the East Asian Tigers to market forces rather than the role of the state. It aligns itself with the developmental state theory and neo-statist approach emphasizing on state intervention to explain the phenomenon of the East Asian economic miracle and likewise, the failure of Pakistan to achieve similar levels of socioeconomic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the expansion of social policies in South Korea during the context of globalization, by linking two theoretical approaches: social investment and the New Developmental State. Applying the case study method, I endorse the hypothesis of complementarily between the welfare state and the developmental state. The article shows that between the 1990s and the 2010s, South Korea expanded all sectors of social policies analyzed. Beyond the expansion of passive policies, active policies (including education) were reshaped in an integrated manner with the industrial policy to promote innovation, pursuing the transition to the knowledge-based society; also the family policy became one of the most generous among OECD countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Globally, several governments have adopted various forms of green stimulus policies (GSP) to manage environmental challenges and revitalize their national economies during crises. However, research on the varieties of GSPs within a country and the possible drivers of this diversity remain scarce. This study qualitatively compares the green growth and green new deal policies adopted under two different administrations in South Korea. Although both GSPs share similar components, they vary in their focus on nuclear energy and international cooperation. This study postulates that these differences are associated with the degree to which each administration saw GSP through the lens of a developmental state. Besides providing a comparative tool for examining GSPs and their elements, this research contributes to GSP research in a non-Western developed-country setting by highlighting how domestic factors shape the nature and composition of GSPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we review the past two decades of administrative reform in South Korea and argue that the dominant models and theories in the field, i.e., New Public Management (NPM), post-NPM, and traditional public administration have been in a state of fusion in implementing measures without a coherent reform model. We observe that the reform movements can neither challenge nor undermine the traditional bureaucracy and maintain that they are the result of a complex mix of both environmental events and contextual factors. We specifically examine the concrete change and development of administrative reform during the Kim Dae Jung (1998-2003), Roh Moo Hyun (2003-2008), and Lee Myung Bak (2008-2013) administrations in South Korea. Among the cases being considered are the restructuring of government ministries, the executive agency system, and rationalization of public enterprises, as well as such performance management schemes as the evaluation system for government departments and the Open Position System. We conclude that the developmental state and the hierarchical bureaucracy are still salient in South Korea's inconsistent administrative reform since the 1990s and that it is crucial to design a prudent reform strategy to achieve a more effective public sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reviews debates concerning financialization in South Korea, with a focus on ongoing arguments between liberal, post-Keynesian, institutionalist and Marxist economists. It argues that post-Keynesian and institutionalist perspectives in particular neglect important class processes through which the financial circuit operates within the Korean economy, especially the power of Korea’s large, family-led conglomerates, or chaebol. In order to build upon Marxist approaches to Korean finance, we argue that Nitzen and Bichler’s approach to the ‘capitalization’ of capitalist class power provides a useful heuristic for understanding the differential power of Korean chaebol and their integration into global capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The post-crisis economic reforms in South Korea have been uneven. While financial reform has been thoroughly carried out, corporate restructuring and labor market flexibility have not been successfully implemented to transform the micro-behavior of the chaebol and labor unions. The unevenness of economic reform is attributable to sociopolitical dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]