Civil society of Korea has rapidly developed since 1987. In a relatively short period of time of 20 years, the korean society has experienced not only quantitative growth of more than 20,000 civic groups being established, but also qualitative growth ...
Civil society of Korea has rapidly developed since 1987. In a relatively short period of time of 20 years, the korean society has experienced not only quantitative growth of more than 20,000 civic groups being established, but also qualitative growth of civic groups exerting increasing influence on the society and forming a sound partnership with the government and civic groups to become a main player in the political reform. the driving forces behind this astonishing development of the Korean civil society include democratization of politics, economic growth, social differentiation, cultural tradition and globalization.
The Korean civil society is, under Lee Myung-Bak government, at a turning point and facing challenges such as mobilization of resources, public opinion formation, citizen' participation, governance establishment, reduction of concentration of power in the central government and decentralization. in particular, the government should be resolved by all the members of society as its equal partner and make joint efforts to realize the value of the civil society, and provide the government support to assure stable and sustainable development of the civil society.
since 1987 when democratization in Korea proceeded to a degree, however, the way of citizen's participation has changed from the political participation toward the participation in policy-making. the relationship between civil society and government develops itself from the confrontation or opposition to the cooperation or governance based upon reciprocal dialogues and consensus.
it is difficult to find the construction of a public sphere for dialogues. however, the fact that the public sphere begins to appear after the conflicts and collisions between the two seems to raise the possibility of governance in korea. For the directions and tasks for the development of the korea civil society, it emphasizes the importance of foundation for the civil society, capacity-building of the NGOs in korea and the partnership between government and civil society.
Once the conditions such as citizen's participation, efforts for cultivating civil society's capability and governmental support to develop the civil society are satisfied. the Korean civil society will be a catalyst in guaranteeing and promoting the political development, economic growth, social stability, cultural diversity, and self development and pursuit of happiness by each societal member.