한국 사회복지정책 결정요인에 관한연구: 민간 정부시대의 복지정책을 중심으로 = A Study on the Determinants of Social Welfare Policy in Korea: In Ae Case of Korean Civil Governments

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This study aims to ascertain the main determinants of social welfare policies in Korea during Kim Yeong Sam and Kim Dae Jung Government. This research also identifies the main characteristics of the Korean social welfare policies. In order to achieve these goals, I seek to find political, economic, and social factors that have impacts on the law-making and expenditure in the social welfare arena throughout the three different regime types: authoritarian, transitional, and democratic ones. And I compare and contrast the political, economic, and social factors, and determine which factors have had the most significant influences on the Korean social welfare policies. The political factors include the legitimacy of the respective regimes, elections, and power balance between the legislature and the administration. The economic factors constitute economic development. Finally, the social factors includes income distribution, labor union, and the frequency of strikes. This study focuses on the factors that have the most significant impact on law-making and expenditure in the social welfare arena. The major findings are as follows: First, the political factors appear to be the most important determinants on the decision making processes of social welfare in Korea. The respective regimes throughout the period under investigation have taken advantage of welfare policies in order to strengthen the legitimacy of their own regimes. So ironically, it was the authoritarian regimes that were the biggest proponent of the welfare policies.
Second, the economic developments, to be sure, are the prerequisites for the social welfare policies. Nonetheless, the magnitudes of social welfare expenditures have not always been proportionate to the levels of economic development. All the regimes have not used the increased budgets for the social welfare although the economy has improved as compared to the previous years.
Third, the social factors began to stand out recently. The social factors became increasingly important as it past authoritarian regimes to civil democratic ones. The democratic regimes got out of the legitimacy crisis unlike the previous authoritarian regimes and began to actively respond to the social welfare demands from the people.