Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Political Economy of Change and Continuity in Korea

Twenty Years after the Crisis

  • Book
  • © 2019

Overview

Authors:
  1. Seungjoo Lee

    1. Chung-Ang University, Dongjak-gu, Seoul, Korea (Republic of)

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  2. Sang-young Rhyu

    1. Yonsei University, Seodaemoon-gu, Seoul, Korea (Republic of)

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Analyzes the post-Asian financial crisis political economy of South Korea, characterized by the dual dynamics of change and continuity
  • Examines the way in which external pressures, ideological shifts in political leadership, and the institutional transformation of the Korean state combined to produce the current political and economic climate
  • Uses case studies to illustrate various stages in the economic and political development of the modern Korean state?

Part of the book series: The Political Economy of the Asia Pacific (PEAP)

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Log in via an institution
eBook USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (7 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-ix
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction: Change and Continuity in Institutional Transformation in Korea

    • Seungjoo Lee, Sang-young Rhyu
    Pages 1-14

  3. Policy Ideas and Interest Alignment in the Process of Institutional Change in Chaebol Reform

    • Seungjoo Lee, Sang-young Rhyu
    Pages 15-47

  4. Privatization and a Lingering Developmental State: Case Studies of POSCO, KT, and Korea Development Bank

    • Seungjoo Lee, Sang-young Rhyu
    Pages 49-76

  5. Between Legalization and Democracy: A Transitional Irony of Informal Network

    • Seungjoo Lee, Sang-young Rhyu
    Pages 77-92

  6. The Dual Dynamics of the IT Industry Transformation

    • Seungjoo Lee, Sang-young Rhyu
    Pages 93-106

  7. Restructuring and Continuity in the Aircraft Industry

    • Seungjoo Lee, Sang-young Rhyu
    Pages 107-121

  8. Dynamics of Policy Shift and Path Dependence in Foreign Economic Policy: Between Strategic Choices and Domestic Constraints

    • Seungjoo Lee, Sang-young Rhyu
    Pages 123-136
Back to top

Keywords

About this book

This book analyzes the transformation of Korean political economy since the 1990s. In the wake of the Asian financial crisis of 1997, the political economy of South Korea has evolved around two diametrically opposed features: convergence into the Anglo-American model and the state-led strategic restructuring of industries. To unravel the peculiar nature of the political economy in Korea, the authors first identify major factors that contributed to the dual dynamics of change and continuity in Korea: external pressures, ideological shift in political leadership, and the pivotal role of the Korean government. Next, they examine the way in which these factors interacted with each other to reshape the evolutionary path of the Korean political economy. Using several case studies, the authors take us through the stages of this transformation, from the reform of the chaebols to the industrial restructuring of the auto, IT, and aerospace industries to the rise of South Korea’s Free Trade Agreements (FTA) initiative. In explaining the role that the dual dynamics of change and continuity play in modern Korean political economy, this book makes an important contribution to the existing literature and will be of interest to scholars and policy-makers concerned with development in Korea and the Asia-Pacific.​

Authors and Affiliations

  • Chung-Ang University, Dongjak-gu, Seoul, Korea (Republic of)

    Seungjoo Lee

  • Yonsei University, Seodaemoon-gu, Seoul, Korea (Republic of)

    Sang-young Rhyu

About the authors

Seungjoo Lee, Assistant Professor at Chung-Ang University (Seoul, Korea), is a comparative political economist interested in U.S.-Japan trade disputes over high technology industries, political dynamics of informal networks in Japan and Korea, political bias in redistributive policy, and the transformation of the developmental state in the age of globalization. He has previously served as an assistant professor at the National University of Singapore and Yonsei University. He has also worked with BASC as a postdoctoral fellow where he focused on bilateralism in trade in Asia. As a regional specialist with expertise in Korean, Japanese, American, and Singaporean political economy, he currently investigates the divergent FTA strategies of East Asian countries. 

Bibliographic Information

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top

Search

Navigation