Policy Competition and Conflict in Korean Local Governments : Determinants and Time Lags by Policy Types

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze policy competition and conflict behaviors by policy types in Korean local governments. This paper answers three research questions. First, what causal conditions influence policy adoption in Korean local governments? The configurations of policy determinants are examined by a fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA). Second, what are different causal conditions for policy types? By Peterson’s three policy types, causal configurations of each type are compared. Third, which conditions do affect the time lag of policy adoption in Korean local governments? The time lag of policy adoption among the three policies is estimated, and the causal conditions are compared among them. For the analysis, pooled time series data are generated by combining the data sets between 2003 and 2012. The results show that the causal combinations of the policy adoption are as follows: developmental policy adoption is affected by political factors and economic characteristics influence redistributive policy adoption. Allocational policy adoption reflects both socioeconomic and political aspects. In the time lag analysis, local governments adopt policies in order of allocational, redistributive and developmental policies. The results partially agree with Peterson’s scheme and show the various configurative explanations for policy adoption by systematic comparisons of the adoption behaviors of each policy type in Korean local governments.