Recently, conflicts between local governments and residents are growing more serious in relation to constructing unwanted facilities. But there are few satisfactory cases of conflict resolution through both sides' interaction in Korea. So this study a...
Recently, conflicts between local governments and residents are growing more serious in relation to constructing unwanted facilities. But there are few satisfactory cases of conflict resolution through both sides' interaction in Korea. So this study analyzed the structure of locational conflicts selecting the case of Kangnam incinerator construction and presented suggestions. The following points were found as a results of this study. The deciding factor in the beginning stages of the conflict was the participating procedures open to residents. The government's perfunctory management of this process only led to a wider distrust for the government. And the issues of economic compensation and the capacity of the incinerator rose as the major concerns between both sides. The awareness and behavior of the residents were discovered to be changing as a result of the declining information asymmetry made possible by learning process and by the rise of a sense of social justice in civil opposition. the introduction of local autonomy, the following increase of self-governments' autonomy and supporting activities of the environmental organizations have created an environment more amenable for residents to voice their opposition. So the local government's traditionally coercive strategy in dealing with locational conflict has transformed into a conflict-management strategy focusing on negotiations with residents. The efficacy of negotiations, however, still remains low due to the lack of relevant institutions. In effect, the revision of the policy objective - the downsizing of the capacity of the incinerator - manifested itself as conflict-management strategy, ultimately debasing policy effectiveness. From these points of view, a more substantial and institutionalized civil participation mechanism, a more reasonable and diversified economic compensation system, institutional supplementation to the negotiation process, and an establishment of cooperation between local governments are needed.