Participation and its restriction in policy-making process in Korea -under the third republic (1963~1972)-

Abstract

The purposes of this paper are to review the social scientists' participation in gwernmental policy-making processes in the 3rd Republic of Korea (1963-1972) after the end of military coup d'etat government (1961~1963) and to find a desirable future relationship between the government and social scientists. In this article, the social scientists' participation is analyzed by focusing on the modes of participation by social scientists (e.g., public administration, political science, economics, sociology, etc.). The modes are classified into two types: direct and indirect. The major institutions analyzed are numerous governmental advisory committees and academic associations for social scientists. The major finding is that the social scientists' participation under the 3rd Republic was very limited, and if any, participation was made mostly by the economists. The participation by other social sciontists was merely a means for legitimation of governmental policies, rather than for improvement of the quality of the policies. This was due to the centralized and authoritarian politico-administrative culture and policymaking structure which was dominated by the group of higher bureaucrats equipped with highly sophisticated modern managerial techniques. The mode of other social sciontists' participation was mostly indirect. It was very difficult for them to access to policy information due to the severe "task security regulations" harshly enforced by the government.