Control Over the Korean Bureaucracy: A Review of the NPM Civil Service Reforms Under the Roh Moo-Hyun Government

Abstract

This study reviews the new public management (NPM) civil service reform initiatives under the Roh Moo-Hyun government in Korea. The main emphases in the discussion are placed on interpreting the reform efforts in terms of the measures for bureaucracy control, and examining the possibilities and limitations of the new NPM reforms in Korea.This study adopts as a theoretical guidance, the “control mechanisms of the civil service system” suggested by Christopher Hood. This study raises the issue of culture in the expansion of the NPM doctrines in the East Asian context. It is argued that the Korean administrative culture could be a serious constraint affecting the potential for the NPM reforms. The authors conclude that despite some positive control effects of the NPM reform measures on the overall Korean civil service system, there are many limitations that still exist in both the reform measures and in their outcomes.