There are two great mysteries in the political economy of South Korea. How could a destroyed country in next to no time become a sophisticated and affluent economy? And how could a ruthlessly authoritarian regime metamorphose with relative ease into a stable democratic polity? South Korea was long ruled with harsh authoritarianism, but, strangely, the authoritarian rulers made energetic use of social policy. The Korean State and Social Policy observes South Korean public policy from 1945 to 2000 through the prism of social policy to examine how the rulers operated and worked.
After the military coup in 1961, the new leaders used social policy to buy themselves legitimacy. That enabled them to rule in two very different ways simultaneously. In their determination to hold on to power they were without mercy, but in the use of power in governance, their strategy was to co-opt and mobilize with a sophistication that is wholly exceptional among authoritarian rulers. It is governance and not power that explains the Korean miracle.
Mobilization is a strategy with consequences. South Korea was not only led to economic development but also, inadvertently perhaps, built up as a society rich in public and civil institutions. When authoritarianism collapsed under the force of nationwide uprisings in 1987, the institutions of a reasonably pluralistic social and political order were there, alive and well, and democracy could take over without further serious drama.
This book is about many things: development and modernization, dictatorship and democracy, state capacity and governance, social protection and welfare states, and Korean history. But finally it is about lifting social policy analysis out of the ghetto of self-sufficiency it is often confined to and into the center ground of hard political science.

This edited volume presents lessons for development in the 21st century through an analysis of South Korea's development experience. The question of how the collaboration between state and society has contributed to capability enhancement is examined. The papers of the volume aim to understand the complementarity between economic and social policies. Looking beyond the conventional analytical scope of South Korean developmental state, they focus on the institutional mechanisms enabling the state and society to establish complementary policies, the actors involved and the consequences of the choices in the policy areas of aid, industrial, labour market, fiscal and monetary policies, social policy, rural development, environment, and gender to identify relevant lessons for developing countries in the 21st century.This volume considers the institutions and policies of South Korea between 1945 and 2000. Framing social policies as a set of policies to enhance individual and societal capability, this volume shows how a wide range of policies were formulated to complement each other in protective, reproductive, productive and redistributive spheres for economic and social development. In particular, it includes the periods of state-building prior to the rapid industrialisation of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s and the responses to Asian Economic Crisis in the 1990s, which identified the institutional foundations and legacies for Korea's successful development.This book is indispensable reading for all interested in development economics, macroeconomics, institutional economics, political economy, migration studies, gender studies and international relations.

This book explores how political, social, economic and institutional factors in eight emerging economies have combined to generate diverse outcomes in their move towards universal health care. Structured in three parts, the book begins by framing social policy as an integral system in its own right. The following two parts go on to discuss the opportunities and challenges of achieving universal health care in Thailand, Brazil and China, and survey the obstacles facing India, Indonesia, Russia, South Africa and Venezuela in the reform of their health care systems. The evolution of social policy systems and the cases in this volume together demonstrate that universalism in health care is continuously redefined by the interactions between diverse political forces and through specific policy processes. At a time when international and national-level discourse around health systems has once again brought universalism to the fore, this edited collection offers a timely contribution to the field in its thorough analysis of health care reform in emerging economies.

Drawing on international case studies from emerging economies and developing countries including South Africa, India, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Tunisia, Indonesia, China and Russia, this book examines the rise, nature and effectiveness of recent developments in social policy in the Global South. By analysing these new emerging trends, the book aims to understand how they can contribute to meaningful change and whether they could offer alternative solutions to the social, economic and environmental policy challenges facing low-income countries within a contemporary global context. It pays particular attention to reforms and innovations relating to the objectives of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including the move away from a welfare state, towards a ‘welfare multitude’, in which new actors, such as civil society organisations, play an increasingly important role in social policy.

This analysis of South Korea's development experience can present lessons for development in the 21st century. Situating the development experience of South Korea within the framework of the capability enhancing state, this volume examines the empowering institutions and policies of South Korea between 1945 and 2000.