Description
This book explains why the Korean welfare state is underdeveloped despite successful industrialization, democratization, a militant labor movement, and a centralized meritocracy. Unlike most social science books on Korea, which tend to focus on its developmental state and rapid economic development, this book deals with social welfare issues and politics during the critical junctures in Korea's history: industrialization in the 1960–70s, the democratization and labor movement in the mid-1980s, globalization and the financial crisis in the 1990s, and the wind of free welfare in the 2010s. It highlights the self-interested activities of Korea's enterprise unionism at variance with those of a more solidaristic industrial unionism in the European welfare states. Korean big business, the chaebol, accommodated the unions' call for higher wages and more corporate welfare, which removed practical incentives for unions to demand social welfare. Korea's single-member-district electoral rules also induce politicians to sell geographically targeted, narrow benefits rather than public welfare for all while presidents are significantly constrained by unpopular tax increase issues. Strong economic bureaucrats acting as veto player also lead Korea to a small welfare state.
Chapter
Legacies of the Developmental State and General Theories Revisited in the Korean Context
Historical Overview of the Korean Welfare State
Institution Building during the Developmental State
Continuity of the Underdevelopment of the Korean Welfare State after Democratization
Methodology, Contributions, and the Organization of the Book
2 Theoretical Reinterpretation of the Small Welfare State in South Korea
The Korean Welfare State in Comparative Perspective
Theoretical Understanding of the Small Welfare State in South Korea
Logic of Industrialism, EOI, and Employers in the Korean Context
Power-Resources Model and Organized Labor in the Korean Context
Democracy and Electoral Rules in the Korean Context
Statism in the Korean Context
3 The Emergence of the Small Welfare State under the Authoritarian Developmental State (1961–1987)
The Rise of the Developmental State, New State-Society Relations, and Centralization of State Bureaucracy
Introduction of the First Compulsory Social Insurance
Implications of Export-Oriented Industrialization for Welfare Politics and Poverty Reduction
The Yushin Regime and Heavy and Chemical Industrialization
The Social Consequences of the HCI Drive
“Reaganomics before Reagan” and Formation of the Low Tax Regime
Welfare Politics under the Yushin Regime
The National Welfare Pension Scheme
Implementing Health Insurance
Neo-Conservative Economic Reforms and Enterprise Unionism Enforced under the Authoritarian Fifth Republic (1980–1987)
Fiscal Conservatism and the Emergence of Corporate Welfare
4 Democratization and Limited Welfare State Development under the Conservative Rule (1988–1997)
From Authoritarianism to Democratic Rule: Institutional Reform during the Elite-Negotiated Democratic Transition
Labor and Civil Society Activism but the Failed Leftist Party Movement
Welfare Politics during the Democratic Transition
The Politics of Health Insurance
The Conservative Grand Coalition and Institutionalization of Enterprise Unionism
New Management Strategies and Corporate Welfare
Neoliberal Economic Reforms under the Kim Young Sam Government (1993–1997)
Segyehwa Campaign and Probusiness Neoliberal Economic Reforms
Failed Experiments in Tripartitism
Welfare Politics during the Segyehwa Campaign
The Introduction of Employment Insurance Scheme
Pension Coverage Expansion and Neoliberal Pension Reform Efforts
5 Economic Crisis, Power Shift, and Welfare Politics under the Kim Dae Jung Government (1998–2002)
The Asian Financial Crisis, Power Change, and a New Social Policy Network
Social Consequences of the Economic Crisis
Power Shift and New Coalitional Dynamics
Emergence of a New Social Policy Network
Resolving Social Questions with Old Solutions: The “Great Expansion” of Social Insurance Programs
Expansion I: Employment and Industrial Accident Insurances
Expansion II: The National Pension Scheme Faces a Divided Civil Society
Expansion III: The National Health Insurance Scheme and Divided Labor
Expansion IV: Strengthening Public Assistance
Limits on Social Safety Nets and Emergence of an Undersecured Society
6 Economic Unionism and the Limits of the Korean Welfare State under the Roh Moo Hyun Government (2003–2007)
Labor Market Liberalization, Dualism, and Polarized Welfare State
Frustrated Vision 2030 and Welfare Reforms to Address Low Fertility and Rapid Aging
Vision 2030 and Defeat of the 2007 Presidential Election
Addressing Low-Fertility and Rapid Aging
Enterprise Unionism and the Limits of the Korean Welfare State
Failed Countermovements for Solidarity and the Welfare State
Social Concertation and the Social Reform Struggle Movement in Decline
The Chaebol Unions and the Failed Industrial Union Movement
Electoral Rules, Weakness of Leftist Parties, and the Failed Social Solidarity Movement
7 Wind of Free Welfare and Tax Politics under the Returned Conservative Rule (2008–2017)
Coming Back of Conservatives with the Lee Myung Bak Presidency (2008–2012)
Aborted Neoliberal Welfare Reforms Amid the 2008 Global Financial Crisis and Tax Cuts
What Remains the Same: Grim Prospects in the Job Market and Poverty after Retirement
Free School Lunch and the Outbreak of the Wind of Free Welfare
Boom and Bust in Welfarism under the Park Geun Hye Presidency (2013–)
Conservative Embrace of Welfare Issue and Competitive Bid for More Welfare
Budgetary Restraint and Rolling Back of Welfare Promises
Tax Row and Withering of the Wind of Free Welfare
Politicians and Organized Labor in the Withering of the Wind of Free Welfare
The Underlying Logic of the Small Welfare State in Comparative Perspective
Prospects for the Korean Welfare State
The Political Economy of the Small Welfare State in South Korea
Disclaimer: Any content in publications that violate the sovereignty, the constitution or regulations of the PRC is not accepted or approved by CNPIEC.