Public Administration Studies and Management Discourse in the Post-Korean War Period Korea

Abstract

This article focused on the management discourse after the Korean War and reviewed it focusing on the process of introducing public administration studies. In previous literature, the knowledge of public administration, which was introduced in earnest with US-Korea technical cooperation, was identified only by the influence of American public administration studies, but in this article, it was examined that it was related to studies in Japan as well as in the United States.BRSocial scientists who studied public administration during this period developed two major administrative theories, emphasizing the utility and significance of management in common. One was to understand that politics and administration are inseparable based on the expansion of the function of modern states and the existence of administration-led plans and policies, and to pay attention to the political functions through public administration. The other was to emphasize the uniqueness of public administration and the managerial aspect.BRFrom the postwar period to the early 1960s, knowledge of public administration as a management discourse grew its influence through public official education. American scholar Fred W. Riggs introduced administrative perception based on tradition-modernity dichotomy to Korea and influenced public administration research. The coup forces, who paid attention to the managerial function of public administration, tried to spread management-oriented administrative ideas and attitudes to all public officials, and incorporated management theory into both the subject and the system by establishing the Bureau of administrative management. This aspect was based on the intention of the coup forces to use management discourse as a technology of rule for economic growth and modernization.