Two faces of decentralization in South Korea
Asian Education and Development Studies
ISSN: 2046-3162
Article publication date: 18 June 2018
Issue publication date: 26 June 2018
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review historical progress and current picture of decentralization in Korea from political, administrative and fiscal perspectives.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper draws on economic as well as political theories regarding decentralization and describes historical development of the local autonomy system in Korea.
Findings
This paper discusses the current discrepancies among the progress of political, administrative and fiscal independence in the local autonomy system in Korea and concludes that the lack of fiscal independence in the local level significantly undermines the efficacy of political and administrative decentralization in Korea.
Originality/value
Decentralization has three distinct perspectives. This paper examines decentralization in Korea from all three perspectives.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the Korean Government (NRF-2013S1A3A2053959).
Citation
Koo, J. and Kim, B.J. (2018), "Two faces of decentralization in South Korea", Asian Education and Development Studies, Vol. 7 No. 3, pp. 291-302. https://doi.org/10.1108/AEDS-11-2017-0115
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited