South Korea experienced extraordinary economic growth in
the period from 1960 to 1990. From a backward economy in the
1950’s, South Korea has been transformed into an urban
industrial society with high levels of managerial and
technical competence within governments, corporations and
local communities.
This dissertation examines Korea’s remarkable economic
growth from the theoretical level and the local level. It
presents an integrative framework, based on a review of the
conventional theories and perspectives of modernization,
dependency, world-system, and the New International Division
of Labor (NIDL).
The research documents the central government’s
industrial policies and its collaboration with the corporate
sector in the policy practice. It then analyzes economic,
social, and environmental impacts of the two partners on local
communities. The impacts in the industrial city of Ulsan are
compared to the conditions in the traditional city of Kyungju.
This case study includes survey research, which was designed
to obtain public opinion on a wide variety of issues, from
three different groups: government officials, corporate
managers, and citizens.
The research leads to the following conclusions. In
contrast to Neo-Marxist arguments, well coordinated actions
between the government and the private sector have a positive
effect on industrial development, notwithstanding some constraining forces from the external world. Industrial growth
in Korea did create a better Quality of Life for the general
public.
It supports some elements of the world-systems urban
theory, such as emphasis on internal and external forces,
internal dynamics within a developing country, and the
relationships among world core, national centers, and smaller
cities. Writings by Peter Dickens, Armstrong and McGee and
Hagen Koo are shown to be useful for this kind of research.
The thesis does not support the thread of the traditional
dependency theory and the NIDL thesis. Industrialization in
Korea did not marginalize the general public. Rather it
improved the Quality of Life for the public, which is
supported by the opinion survey indicating that more than
three quarters of the sample respondents see that their
Quality of Life has improved.
Rapid industrialization in Korea caused social and
environmental problems especially in the industrial cities.
The survey result indicates that ninety four percent of the
respondents from Ulsan regard environmental pollution a ‘very’
serious problem for the city, while the equivalent number for
Kyungju was twelve percent.
The survey result also shows that the public is now
concerned more with social issues, such as a clean environment
and a more equal distribution of wealth, than economic growth.
As people’s awareness has expanded substantially to include
elements of a better Quality of Life, both the local government and citizens agree there are problems with the
conventional approach to industrial promotion.
Although the strong views are held, neither the national
nor local government have developed coherent policies to deal
with this new phenomenon. The national government has expanded
the roles of provincial and municipal governments in policy
development, and this will include the election of local
mayors and governors in 1995. It will provide a forum for
better definition of the problem and more opportunities for
their resolution.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/6870 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Shin, Dong-Ho |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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