"How do poor nations become rich, industrialized, and democratic? And what role does democracy play in this transition? To address these questions, Jongryn Mo and Barry R. Weingast study South Korea’s remarkable transformation since 1960. The authors concentrate on three critical turning points: Park Chung Hee’s creation of the development state beginning in the early 1960s, democratization in 1987, and the genesis of and reaction to the 1997 economic crisis. At each turning point, Korea took a significant step toward creating an open access social order.The dynamics of this transition hinge on the inclusion of a wide array of citizens, rather than just a narrow elite, in economic and political activities and organizations. The political economy systems that followed each of the first two turning points lacked balance in the degree of political and economic openness and did not last. The Korean experience, therefore, suggests that a society lacking balance cannot sustain development. Korean Political and Economic Development offers a new view of how Korea was able to maintain a pro-development state with sustained growth by resolving repeated crises in favor of rebalancing and greater political and economic openness."

This is a critical comparative analysis of the origin, nature, problems and prospects of steel development and industrialisation in Nigeria and South Korea. Focusing on the steel sector, this ground-breaking book examines the interplay among the state, local capital, transnational corporations, the World Bank and IMF. The book examines how all these factors have come to shape the content and direction of steel development in these two countries.

Over the past three decades, South Korea has moved along a path of strong economic growth and political democratization, attracting worldwide attention and providing valuable lessons for other developing economies. Yet Korea still must grapple with many intractable problems fueled by its rapid industrialization and uneven growth, including unbalanced distribution of wealth, concentrated economic power, and adversarial relationships between management and labor. Within the context of these sweeping changes, this volume explores options for economic and social institutional reform in Korea. Drawing on models of economic development from Japan, the United States, and Europe, a distinguished group of Asian and Western scholars relates the experiences of previously industrialized economies to each facet of Koreas economic system, including national management; taxation and banking; land ownership and use; trade and industrial strategy; and relations among business ownership, management, and labor. In so doing, the contributors provide valuable insights and fresh proposals for a viable model of social and economic modernization. Throughout the volume, the contributors emphasize the importance of Koreas cultural heritage-not only in explaining the nations recent growth but also as a key element of its continued success. By providing an overview of the evolution and interaction of Korean economic, political, and sociocultural institutions, the contributors make clear how these structures mediate the movement between cultural values and economic progress.

One of the most comprehensive texts on the political economy of Korea available Up-to-date - goes up to 1999

From 1965 to 1990, the 23 East Asian economies grew faster than all other regions of the world. The high-performing economies of Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia experienced low and declining levels of income inequality as well. The June 1997 financial crisis has challenged these economies. Many of the high-performing economies have experienced serious problems, including falls in currency and equity markets, significant slowdowns in international trade, and setbacks in economic growth. Emphasizing the role of government and the importance of managing development, this book provides an overview of the major impact of the financial crisis on selected Asian countries and of the development policies implemented. Examining the experience of managing economic development, the book includes contributed chapters on China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, and Southeast Asia. It will be a useful resource for scholars, students, and those researching Asian economic development.

This book concentrates on the process of economic growth, for which Korea today is renowned. It examines some of the salient forces that helped to produce Korea's remarkable change and explores the evolution of the class structure in Korea and the changes it is now experiencing.

The common roots of success and failure in economic growth and development lie in the systemic governance and fragmentation of institutional complementarities, respectively, but not in the unilateral adaptation of market-led or state-led models. To substantiate this argument, Akan utilizes case countries from the United States, South Korea, and Turkey—an advanced developed, a recently developed, and a developing country. Akan provides a simple framework for understanding two points that go beyond ideological obsession. The first is how a model of G&D works and evolves; with its economic, financial, industrial, and political dynamics intertwining. The second is why a market-led or state-led model succeeds and fails in both developed and developing countries.

This edited collection traces the social, economic, political, and cultural dimensions of Korea’s dramatic transformation since the late nineteenth century. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, the chapters examine the internal and external forces which facilitated the transition towards industrial capitalism in Korea, the consequences and impact of social change, and the ways in which Korean tradition continues to inform and influence contemporary South Korean society. Transformations in Twentieth Century Korea employs a thematic structure to discuss the interrelated elements of Korea’s modernization within agriculture, business and the economy, the state, ideology and culture, and gender and the family. The essays in this volume encompass the Choson dynasty, the colonial period, and postcolonial Korea. Collectively, they provide us with an original and innovative approach to the study of modern Korea, and show how knowledge of the country’s past is critical to understanding contemporary Korean society. With contributions from a number of prominent international scholars within sociology, economics, history, and political science, Transformations in Twentieth Century Korea incorporates a global framework of historical narrative, ideology and culture, and statistical and economic analysis to further our understanding of Korea’s evolution towards modernity.

Published in 1997, this book traces the history of foreign investment policy in South Korea from 1961 until the present. It shows how Korea adopted a highly successful interventionist strategy towards foreign direct investment channeling it into areas of the economy where it could achieve the most benefit for the country’s economic development. In recent years Korea has tried to adopt a more market driven approach. However, differences within various institutions within the public and private sector led to policy confusion and ineffectiveness in meeting policy goals. The conclusion reached is that moving from an interventionist strategy to a market orientated strategy is difficult in this policy area. The book breaks new ground because it shows that while the conventional wisdom is that a 'market economy' approach is beneficial, moving from an interventionist policy to a market-orientated one is problematic and cannot be accomplished quickly.