The Transformation of Korean Business Groups after the Asian Crisis 1

This study examines the evolution of Korean business groups after the economic crisis. In particular, we investigate the post-crisis changes in their business structure and corporate governance system, which are argued to be major precipitating factors leading to the economic crisis. Our analysis suggests that the divestment intensity of non-core, highly indebted and low intra-group trade firms was higher for groups which survived the economic crisis, compared to the bankrupt groups. Besides, most surviving groups did not pursue diversification as actively as before the crisis, and their financial conditions remained favourable in the post-crisis period. The corporate governance of the groups has also improved in terms of corporate transparency, implementation of monitoring mechanisms and their accountability to shareholders. Therefore, it seems that Korean business groups have successfully implemented radical corporate transformation to adapt to the changed business environment after the crisis. But, the dominance of family management still remains as an important feature of Korean business groups.     

韩国新农村运动的成功要因分析

韩国在韩国20世纪70年代实施的新农村运动被誉为发展中国家农村建设的成功范例。本文从韩国建国后的社会经济环境,推动主体之间形成的善治特征,变革目标和战略选择等角度,全面分析韩国新农村运动的成功要因,以及韩国经验对中国所具有的启示意义。     

“Bad enough governance”: state capacity and quality of institutions in post-Soviet autocracies

This article contributes to current discussions on state capacity, quality of institutions, and political regimes. Our analysis demonstrates that the J-curve argument (“good institutions” in autocracies as compared to hybrid and transitional regimes) may not be generic and is not well supported by empirical evidence from the sample of post-Soviet countries. An explanatory model of the “King of the Mountain” is instead provided. Its focus is on the monopoly of political rent as a precondition for extraction of economic rent. It demonstrates an inverse correlation between the quality of institutions and the extraction of political and economic rent, and explains why an autocrat may not have an incentive to improve institutions that may make his/her monopoly vulnerable, and rather would prefer to preserve a low quality of institutions and “bad enough governance.” An analysis of a variety of external and domestic factors that may endanger this monopoly is provided. Finally, the autocrat's alternative strategic choices are analyzed. It is argued that better payoffs for the autocrat – paradoxically – may result from partial reforms and improvement of the quality of institutions. However, for various reasons, this is not occurring in post-Soviet autocracies.     

Dangerous Liaisons? State-Chaebol Co-operation and the Global Privatisation of Development

This article analyses the relationships between private and public sectors in shaping the South Korean development assistance agenda. Since 2008, subsequent Korean administrations have made development assistance a keystone of their foreign policy. Fast growing middle-income countries seem to be favourite development partners for these administrations and the parallel increase in the overseas expansion of Korean chaebol in these developing partner markets suggests that interactions between private economic interests and development assistance exigencies have been numerous. Based upon fieldwork on Korean development assistance, this article shows that Korean conglomerates are both informally and structurally included in decision-making processes as a result of the specific governance architecture inherited from the developmental state era. But recently, since its accession to the Development Assistance Committee in 2010, Korea has also been institutionalising private actors’ inclusion in official development assistance delivery mechanisms. This should be understood as part of a global agenda that has increasingly privatised development formulation and delivery. The inclusion of chaebol in official development assistance through institutional mechanisms might actually be more aligned with Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development norms than the existing literature suggests.     

South Korea’s Economic Course: from State Dirigisme to Liberal Monetarism

The paper aims to investigate the transformation of South Korean economy from strict state regulation to liberalization and to fill in the gap in the historical analysis of the transition from import-substitution to export-oriented economy of South Korea. The study relies on the methods of comparative-historical, historical-typological, and historical-genetic analysis to consider the evolution of South Korean economic system, the change in economic development model, and the transition to a new economic strategy. The study also implies the use of interdisciplinary methods to systematize the empirical material, applying political-geographic, economic, and complex approaches. The paper gives periodization of South Korean economic development and investigates the reasons of country’s successful modernization and transition to export-oriented economy. Large corporations began to emerge in South Korea in the mid-1960s due to the active support from the state. They established the production of steel, marine vessels, automobiles, and electronic devices. The well thought-out government program brought notable success by the late 1990s, and South Korea gained the developed industrial base and powerful export potential. The afflux of foreign investments and the competitiveness of Korean products were mostly provided by low wages, traditional diligence, and Confucian education. Since the Korean strategy of economic development happened to be successful, there is a need for examining the experience of modernization as it can be useful for developing countries.     

Debating Economic Democracy in South Korea: The Costs of Commensurability

ABSTRACT:

In the 2012 Korean presidential election, both liberal and conservative parties fought their campaigns on the slogan of “economic democratization,” marking a strong departure from past presidential elections and the growth-first policies of the then-incumbent conservative administration. Both parties pledged to tackle growing social polarization and the concentration of economic power by reforming the corporate governance of Korea's large, family-led conglomerates (chaebol), to the degree that chaebol reform itself became synonymous with economic democratization. This focus led to a series of heated exchanges among liberal-left reformers about the vision of economic democratization being promoted, with one camp favoring the creation of a “fair market” through the restructuring of the chaebol and another promoting the protection of the chaebol’s management rights over their affiliates as a desirable strategy for the creation of a Korean welfare state. This essay examines the long-standing tensions between these two liberal-left perspectives and argues that the capital-centric and market-based visions these camps promoted risk confining intellectual debate over the meaning of economic democracy within boundaries that serve dominant political interests.     

From Miracle to Crisis and Back: The Political Economy of South Korean Long-Term Development

This article analyses the process of economic development and associated political transformations in South Korea since the mid-1960s. It claims that, as in the rest of East Asia, capital accumulation in South Korea has revolved around the production of specific industrial goods for world markets using the relatively cheap and highly disciplined local workforce for simplified labour processes, as appendages of the machine or in manual assembly operations. This modality of accumulation resulted from changes in the forms of production of relative surplus value on a global scale through the development of computerisation and robotisation, and the concomitant transformation in the productive attributes of the collective worker of large-scale industry. The article identifies the main characteristics of the political and economic relations through which the structural transformation of the Korean society came about throughout the period studied, as a form of realising the global unity of the process of capitalist development. This analysis not only supports the claims made about the specific characteristics of the East Asian processes of capitalist development. It also shows the intrinsic unity of seemingly diverse political-economy processes, as forms of realisation of the transformations of Korean society.     

The ideological disposition of Koreans

This article empirically examines the features of Koreans' ideological disposition and its changes based on national surveys conducted in 2002 and 2004. This study provides an in-depth analysis of South Korea's current ideological polarisation at the level of voter attitudes, and thus is able to explain the current ideological stand-off in Korean society more intuitively than was possible previously. Analysis of ideological disposition on ten policy issues revealed that economic factors are statistically significant in examining ideological differences by age and occupation, contrary to the existing analysis that ideological conflict in South Korea is affected more by political factors. In addition, this study has found that there are several fundamental ideological dimensions that affect policy issues. They are categorised as Cold War authoritarianism, neo-liberalism, egalitarianism and post-materialistic values.     

Changing Governance Models in Higher Education: The Case of the New Managerialism

Universities are subject to profound changes of political management. The article endeavors – from a comparative point of view – to assess to what extent the new managerialism and the new public management respectively have infiltrated governmental strategies and modified existing governance models of higher education. This is done by, first, developing a revised heuristic framework of governance models; second, by assessing the merits and problems of the new managerial governance model in comparison with other governance models; and, third, by using empirical evidence of countries. Political-institutional factors are discussed in order to explain for variations in strategies and success of implementing the new governance model. It is concluded that there are two dangerous paths of future university development: universities have to learn how to avoid either permanent immobilism or becoming mere market-driven organizations with calculate frameworks.     

Changing South Korean Water Policy after Political and Economic Liberalisation

This study explores the way in which South Korean water policy has been dynamically (re-)constructed by continuing political contestations among diverse social forces acting in and through the state in the face of political and economic liberalisation. The path-dependency of the state-driven water resource policy under the former authoritarian regime did not disappear even after the democratisation. It was difficult to transform the old authoritarian and hierarchical water governance to the newly democratic and environmentally friendly one because the Ministry of Construction, as a main actor in driving water policy under the authoritarian regimes, did not give up its interest in a dam-based policy orientation, although it did partially accept institutional tools for democratic policy making, such as public hearings and the participation of civil society in the process of establishing the water policy plan. It also showed democratic and environment-friendly gestures using the rhetoric of environmentalism and localisation. Overall, this article emphasises the importance of the path-dependency of the past authoritarian regimes under democratised society to better understand the current democratic regime’s policy orientation.     

The political economy of Mozambique twenty years on: A post-conflict success story?

The following article investigates the state of Mozambique's political economy 20 years after the end of its civil war between FRELIMO and RENAMO, in 1992. This paper is written from the theoretical perspectives of growing criticism of the neo-liberal assumptions that underlie development policy and places the analysis of Mozambique's economic growth and development within the field of development studies as they are played out in African realities. Mozambique is viewed by the donor community and multilateral institutions as a success story of postwar construction, yet a closer look at the development outcomes in Mozambique calls this conclusion into question. The paper found that, despite improvements in reducing the number of people living in poverty between 1992 and 2012, hunger persists and malnutrition and diseases such as malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis are on the increase. The author concludes that global governance reforms that take cognisance of Mozambique's and indeed Africa's governance challenges are needed to forge a development paradigm relevant for Africa.     

中国韩国学研究的现状、特征与趋势——基于1998～2010年CSSCI数据

当前,韩国学研究已成为国内重要国别研究领域。本文运用文献计量学的方法,对1998～2010年间CSSCI数据库收录的韩国学论文数量与被引频次数量、合作论文比重与性质、作者机构分布、发文前10个单位分布、第一作者所属地区分布、发文期刊数量及载文量前10个期刊分布等进行统计,从各学科论文、作者及期刊三个方面解析国内韩国学研究现状与特征,把握其发展趋势,为国内韩国学研究的发展提供借鉴,推动国内韩国学研究更好地服务于我国经济社会发展。     

新疆利用韩国企业直接投资的现状与展望

随着韩国企业在中国东部沿海发达地区的布局趋于完善和成熟以及中国西部大开发战略的逐步深入,全球经济格局调整和产业转移,大规模进入新疆等中国西部地区已成为必然。但目前韩国企业在新疆直接投资的整体规模上一直徘徊不前,相较东西部其他地区的投资额也有明显差距。因此,为了释放新疆与韩国的经济合作潜力,建议通过加强文化交流促进经济合作和改善投资环境加强直接投资的吸引力;通过吸引更多韩国跨国公司,扩大投资规模。     

韩国农村行政管理及制度建设的启示

本文结合作者的出访考察，从多个层面介绍并分析了韩国农村行政管理与制度建设，包括行政管理体系、郡政府的主要职能、管理权的制衡和约束机制，由此展示了韩国农村行政管理制度改革和建设的丰富成果，这是韩国农村社会和谐稳定发展的重要原因，其中有些成功经验值得学习和借鉴。     

中国的朝鲜半岛政策评估——历史经验、当前成果与若干不足

中国的朝鲜半岛政策,历经朝贡体系、条约体系、冷战体系和冷战后体系四个主要阶段。从历史经验来看,一是中国的朝鲜半岛政策总体上以友好为主线、以和平为目的;二是中国的强大有助于朝鲜半岛的稳定与发展;三是当中国衰落时,朝鲜半岛往往成为外部入侵的跳板;四是制度化的安排有助于中国与朝鲜半岛国家关系的稳定发展;五是适时调整外交政策才能够不断获得滚动收益。当前中国对朝鲜半岛政策的主要成果,一是"北南并重"造就了中国在朝鲜半岛的独特政治地位;二是六方会谈成为解决朝核问题的重要机制;三是中国与朝鲜半岛国家经济合作取得显著成果,合作前景广阔;四是睦邻友好关系形成了良好的民间基础。不足之处,一是"等距离"外交带来了实质性差距;二是原则性政策突出,操作性策略不足;三是在朝鲜半岛事务沟通斡旋当中的桥梁作用有待进一步加强;四是中朝韩三边关系缺少战略性的统筹规划。     

Multiple Trajectories and “Good Governance” in Asia: An Introduction

Conventional wisdom in the international aid community has been that governance systems and practices in developing countries require reform in order for aid catering to economic development or poverty alleviation to be successful. Despite criticisms, the good governance agenda has remained unscathed in international development policy until the recent economic crisis in the advanced economies. This feature section of this issue provides in-depth analysis of the nuances at the critical linkage between institutional reforms and development, based on empirical case studies of the logic of governance reforms in the Asian context. This introductory essay surveys the intellectual background of discussion over the concepts of governance, good governance and development, and the linkage between governance reforms as process and development as outcome. It highlights the significance of discussing Asian reform experiences for the ongoing reflection over the global institutional agenda. The message is not that we do not need governance reforms, or that international learning is impossible or counterproductive. Reform efforts in developing and advanced economies will benefit, however, from a better understanding of the linkage between reforms and the diverse historical conditions they are embedded in.     

Can a rentier state evolve to a production state? An ‘institutional upgrading’ approach

ABSTRACT

Can a rentier state evolve to a production state? This article attempts to answer this question by analysing how historically states evolved to production states and by comparing their experience with today’s Gulf states. Although the Gulf states show some productive traits today, their mode of production largely remains ‘production with rentier characteristics’, that is reliant on oil-driven advantages. Their further economic diversification requires improved governance capabilities that enable their government to enhance human capital. Production states around the world acquired such governance capabilities through ‘institutional upgrading’, a replacement of clientelistic institutions with meritocratic ones. While clientelistic institutions tend to persist, such institutions were significantly reduced in these states through the exit of vested-interest players from major fiscal and organizational spaces. The exit appears to occur when these vested-interest players accept pain-sharing to ensure their protection in the context of the revealed vulnerability of their patron regime and when alternative productive gains are offered to them in lieu of conventional distribution. Presently neither condition is in existence in the Gulf states, which continue to be characterized by their direct and extensive distributional regimes. Without a prospect for immediate governance improvement, a realistic reform possibility lies in agency under institutional constraints.     

Somaliland: An African Struggle for Nationhood and International Recognition

This paper investigates the benefits of Chinese companies to the Ugandan economy using data gathered during fieldwork in Kampala. Potential contributions to the Ugandan economy are analysed through a number of economic and managerial factors, and their determinants. This paper shows that potential benefits vary on the basis of sector, investment size and ECCO registration. The potential harm caused by one sector in particular is indicated. The paper presents recommendations regarding how potential benefits can be maximised and harm reduced. Given the increased presence of Chinese enterprises in Africa, these findings are relevant to African policymakers and academics.     

Asian Tiger Enters the Land of Diversity: Cultural Adaptations for South Korean Businesses in India

‘Come, Make in India’, India’s Prime Minister has invited global firms to invest and manufacture in India and also to promote exports. As with this campaign, India has given a scope of promising growth to the companies which is also been seen to solve India’s multiple economic problems. Many countries have shown their interest to invest in India and one of them is South Korea. Now the question arises whether companies from South Korea in this competitive environment can mark their presence in India—a nation of cultural diversity, which can affect the initial start-ups, if ignored. Apart from the historical cultural ties, there are cross-cultural differences between South Korea and India. So, this paper aims to build up a study that brings together the parity and cross-cultural differences between South Korea and India. The paper opens with the discussion about the various historical, cultural and poetic relations to describe the scenario between the two countries, whereas for the analysis, a macro-meso-micro framework has been used to answer the research question. The three-level analysis helps this paper to see the overlooked influence of culture from a broader perspective. The results of the study reveal a list of cultural adaptations suited for South Korean start-ups to run businesses in India by avoiding the cultural threats and contribute to the existing literature. The study findings could be used by companies, marketers and practitioners to devise and re-vamp their strategies in India, and it will also serve as a cultural guide for them.     

中韩建交二十年来中国的韩国现代文学研究综述

中国的韩国现代文学研究起步较晚,但发展迅速。中韩建交20年来,中国学者共发表韩国现代文学研究论文180余篇,其中包括研究生学位论文37篇,专门从事韩国现代文学研究的学者人数不断增加。本文利用文献计量学的方法对中韩建交以来中国的韩国现代文学研究成果从年度分布、研究主题及其分期、刊载期刊、主要作者等几个方面进行了量化统计。在此基础上,梳理中国韩国现代文学研究的发展历程,分析韩国现代文学研究的现状并指出存在的主要问题。