Administrative reform in South Korea : New Public Management and the bureacracy
By: KIM, Sunhyuk
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Contributor(s): HAN, Chonghee.
Material type: 
ArticlePublisher: Los Angeles : Sage, Dec. 2015International Review of Administrative Sciences 81, 4, p. 694-712Abstract: This article analyzes the political dynamics of South Koreas recent administrative reform. We argue that successive South Korean governments New Public Management-inspired reform programs have only achieved partial success. In particular, they have largely failed to attain their ultimate goal i.e. significant weakening of the traditionally strong elite bureaucracy in policymaking. The bureaucracy in the country has not become weakened as a result of the reform. Rather, the central government ministries have augmented their power and institutional autonomy. Those who were in charge of designing and implementing reform measures were bureaucrats themselves who were supposed to be the target of the reform. Such situation, in which the reformers were expected to reform themselves, has resulted in numerous incidences of sabotage, delay, obstruction, and distortion of the reform. This article concludes that it is crucial to consider the local contexts in which reform initiatives are adopted, interpreted, accepted, legitimated, and concretized for implementation
This article analyzes the political dynamics of South Koreas recent administrative reform. We argue that successive South Korean governments New Public Management-inspired reform programs have only achieved partial success. In particular, they have largely failed to attain their ultimate goal i.e. significant weakening of the traditionally strong elite bureaucracy in policymaking. The bureaucracy in the country has not become weakened as a result of the reform. Rather, the central government ministries have augmented their power and institutional autonomy. Those who were in charge of designing and implementing reform measures were bureaucrats themselves who were supposed to be the target of the reform. Such situation, in which the reformers were expected to reform themselves, has resulted in numerous incidences of sabotage, delay, obstruction, and distortion of the reform. This article concludes that it is crucial to consider the local contexts in which reform initiatives are adopted, interpreted, accepted, legitimated, and concretized for implementation
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