Reforming the Administrative Apparatus in Korea: The Case of the ‘Civilian Government’

Jung, Yong-duck

doi:10.1080/12264431.1996.10804873

Cited by 3 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…According to Jung (1996), the Korean government expanded by 45,541 personnel between 1982 and 1992. For example, in fear of an organizational reduction, the Ministry of Home Affairs creatively developed a new mission.…”

Section: Downsizing and Reorganizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Downsizing and reorganization are the common features of Korean AR (Chung and Jun 1991). According to statistics collected by Jung (1996), President Chun took a reduction initiative shortly after he became president and cut the total number of staff and positions of central government in 1981 by 46,489, which included 599 staff and positions higher than Grade IV. The Kim administration also implemented two reorganization initiatives in March 1993 and December 1994, which jointly led to the cut of 1140 staff and positions for the first two years.…”

Section: Downsizing and Reorganizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a result of the cooperative resistance of the Ministry of Energy, related scholars and interest groups, the government plan of consolidating the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Energy was cancelled (Chung, 1994). A recent evaluation of the Kim administration (Jung 1996) indicates that the reduction-oriented reorganization initiatives are often checked and challenged by strong, but unspoken bureaucratic resistance. This is due to the fact that bureaucrats see organizational change as a source of instability and a burden of uncertainty to the bureaucracy.…”

Section: Downsizing and Reorganizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite political efforts of reduction and reorganization, bureaucracy has been sustained and has even grown by the establishment of new agencies (the Small and Medium Industry Administration and the Ministry of Oceanography and Marine Resources) and by the creation of new missions. According to Jung (1996), the Korean government expanded by 45,541 personnel between 1982 and 1992. For example, in fear of an organizational reduction, the Ministry of Home Affairs creatively developed a new mission.…”

Section: Downsizing and Reorganizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Shaping Administrative Reform and Governance: An Examination of the Political Nexus Triads in Three Asian Countries

Moon

Ingraham

1998

Governance

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When addressing administrative reform, many scholars have referred to the fact that governments confront multiple internal challenges such as fiscal stress, distrust of bureaucracy, and higher demands for public services (Peters and Savoie 1995). Externally, governments become more sensitive to global issues and tend to be more influenced by international environments (Garcia‐Zamor and Khator 1994). Faced with internal and external challenges, governments seek new paradigms for governance (Ingraham and Romzek 1994) and often initiate administrative reform (AR) aimed at enhancing governmental performance and improving the administrative system through technological advances, managerial improvements, administrative innovations and continued enhancement of administrative capabilities (Caiden 1991). Administrative reform and its diffusion among Western countries are well documented in the literature (Campbell and Peters 1988; Savoie 1994; Halligan 1996; Peters and Savoie 1995). However, studies are skewed toward Western countries and little attention has been paid to Asia. Even less attention has been paid to comparative studies on Asian administrative reform, even though many Asian countries have developed their own AR trajectories to improve public efficiency and productivity (Burns 1994; Zhang, De Guzman, and Reforma 1992). As many students of comparative public administration (CPA) understand, it is always a challenging task, both methodologically and theoretically, to examine a group of different countries (Aberbach and Rockman 1987; Heady 1996a; 1996b; Peters 1988; Peters 1996). It is an even more challenging and controversial task to develop a single comparative framework from which we can examine different countries. This article attempts to fill a gap in the literature by examining Asian AR from a comparative perspective. First, we propose an exploratory theoretical framework, a Political Nexus Triad (PNT). PNT is an extended model, which adds civil society as the third dimension to the traditional politics‐administration model. We suggest the PNT and its dynamic trajectory as a building block of the comparative study of Asian administrative reform. This is similar to the power interaction models in which Peters (1988) addresses the power interactions between politicians and bureaucrats.1 Second, we examine the conventional patterns of PNT for three Asian countries: China, Japan, and Korea. Third, we survey AR of the three countries, focusing on actors, contents and potential impacts to the new PNT. Finally, we discuss conclusions and comparisons

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Section: Downsizing and Reorganizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Downsizing and Reorganizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Downsizing and Reorganizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Downsizing and Reorganizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Shaping Administrative Reform and Governance: An Examination of the Political Nexus Triads in Three Asian Countries

Moon

Ingraham

1998

Governance

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“…In 1994, President Young-sam Kim let the head of the PMO chair the vice-ministerial meeting, which played an important role in the public policy process in Korea (Jung, 1996). Since 1998, the position of the head of the PMO, which was renamed the Office of Government Policy Coordination, has been elevated to be on a par with ministers.…”

Section: Functions and Organizations Policy Planning Coordination And Evaluationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Institutional Change and Continuity in Korea’s Central Agencies, 1948-2011*

Jung

Lee²,

Kim³

2011

Korean J. Policy Stud.

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This article analyzes Korea`s central agencies, which have been organized and reorganized to support presidential executive leadership since the foundation of the Republic. Each central agency has carried out the standardization of a core administrative function which is essential to the operation of administrative apparatuses, including policy planning and coordination, budgeting, organizing, staffing, legislation, public relations, central-local relations, control and performance evaluation, etc. The six decades of institutionalization can be characterized, based on the central agencies` proportion of the total administrative apparatus, into three phases: high (more than 35 percent, 1948-1961), middle (around 20 percent, 1962-2007), and low (about 10 percent, 2008-present). Regardless of the changing size and organizational configuration of the central agencies, however, their roles and influence as core executive apparatuses have remained largely unchanged, especially since the early 1960s. More than 67 percent, on average, of the heads and deputy heads of CAs have been former public servants, less than 18 percent have been former politicians, and about 15 percent have been former outside experts. This strong bureaucratic background has oriented Korea`s core executive policy direction significantly toward long-term, consistent, and plan rationality rather than short-term, flexible, and democratic responsiveness.

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Administrative reform in Korea and Thailand: A perspective of bureaucrat-politician relationship

Soo¹

2008

journalofkoreanassociationofthaistudies

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Reforming the Administrative Apparatus in Korea: The Case of the ‘Civilian Government’

Cited by 3 publications

References 1 publication

Shaping Administrative Reform and Governance: An Examination of the Political Nexus Triads in Three Asian Countries

Shaping Administrative Reform and Governance: An Examination of the Political Nexus Triads in Three Asian Countries

Institutional Change and Continuity in Korea’s Central Agencies, 1948-2011*

Administrative reform in Korea and Thailand: A perspective of bureaucrat-politician relationship

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