Changes by competition: The evolution of the south Korean developmental state

Abstract

By tracing historically the evolution of Korean state-led capitalism and comparing it with other economies, this book criticizes prevalent theories including neoliberalism, the developmental state, and institutionalism, while proposing a theoretical alternative focusing on endogenous changes and institutional adaptability through elite competition within the state. Unlike the arguments of the neoliberals, the state can still play an active role in reconstituting the national economy in globalization. The Korean state successfully fosters economic growth by nurturing industrial commons even in globalization, rather than change toward a neoliberal free market system. In order to better account for sustainable economic growth over a long time, this book emphasizes institutional adaptability through elite competition, rather than offering neoliberal celebrations of the free market and the statist emphasis on the stringent Weberian state. The Korean economy, as well as the East Asian developmental state (DS) economies, could have sustainable development over a long period, not because of an apparent and standardized growth formula, or because of some institutional elements of a stringent Weberian state, but because they have adjusted their methods and strategies of development through competition among elites inside and outside the state, as new challenges, never met with an apparent solution, have continuously emerged. In order to better account for the evolution of state-led developmentalism in Korea, as well as in other countries, this book proposes changes by competition among elites within as well as outside the state, which causes changes in developmentalism and more flexible adjustments in new contexts.