Local Politics and Urban Power Structure in South Korea

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

By utilizing the decisional method this paper attempts to examine the nature of local politics and urban power structures in Korea. The findings turn out to be inconsistent with the implications of elitism, pluralism, the growth machine thesis, the city limits thesis or the urban regime theory. It is discovered that local power structures in Korea are mayor-dominant ones. Since there are few organized local businesses or social interests which could control the local government, the mayor instead, as head of local administration, appears to prevail in local political processes through patron-client relations, and overwhelms the local bureaucracy as well as the city council.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• I.Introduction
• II.Local Politics and Power Structure
• 1.Theories of Local Politics
• 2.Urban Power Structures
• III.State, Market, and Civil Society
• 1.State
• 2.Market
• 3.Civil Society
• IV.Some Characteristics of Local Politics
• 1.Mayor-Dominant System
• 2.Electoral Politics and Political Opportunism
• 3.Growth and Consumption Politics
• 4.Politics of Ascription
• V.Conclusion