Globalization and the emerging welfare state — the experience of South Korea

Abstract

This paper explores the experience of South Korea (hereafter referred to as Korea) as a testing ground for the prospects of the contemporary welfare state as affected by globalization. Korea is known as one of the most successful cases of intentional economic growth. Over three and a half decades, from 1961 to 1996, it grew from a war‐torn wreck to become the world’s 11th largest economy, with a per capita gross domestic product exceeding US$10,000, and to become a member of the rich nations’ club, OECD. But, with the financial crisis of 1997, the Korean miracle is said to have ingloriously ended. This paper examines the development of the Korean welfare state as a composite system of democratic welfare capitalism in the context of its export‐oriented economic growth, and looks into the current features of the welfare state efforts under the direct tutelage of the IMF.