This study asks how local governments in post-developmental states determine and implement industrial policies analyzing local governments’ promotion on agricultural industry in South Korea. East Asia, including South Korea, has achieved rapid economic growth under the states’ guidance described as ‘developmental states’ in the 20th Century. In most cases of the developmental states, governmental power was highly centralized. After transitioning to developed countries, however, the monopoly of the power by the central governments has changed because the Asia’s developmental states experienced decentralization to transfer the central governments’ power to local ones. Also in South Korea, legal status of the local governments has been upgraded for last three decades. Then, how do the Korea’s local governments today promote their regional industry? Only small number of previous studies on South Korea’s local governments have shed light on the municipalities’ role in industrial policies. The author analyzed the local governments’ role to promote agricultural industry in post-developmental South Korea employing the methods of literature review and interview on local officers. The result of the analysis indicates that the local governments in South Korea have promoted their local industry with high autonomy in policy determination and active mobilization of local resources. In other words, this study shows that the South Korea’s local governments promote their local industry with similar methods with the former developmental state Based on these findings, this study concludes that the legacy of developmental state can be an influential factor in governance even after the transition to decentralized and developed stage.

Authors:
Akio Nawakura, National Federation of Depopulated Municipalities in Japan, Japan

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Nawakura Akio is currently a senior researcher in the National Federation of Depopulated Municipalities in Japan, Tokyo. He graduated Graduate School of Meiji University with Ph.D. in Political Science in 2016.

Connect on ResearchGate
https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Akio-Nawakura-2228231542

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