South Korean Development Model

Abstract

South Korea is one of economic wonders of the late twentieth century. War-torn desolated and poverty-stricken country in the 1950s with a per capita income less then Haiti, Ethiopia, India or Yemen, achieved unprecedented economic development and legendary growth that brought her from one the most backward countries into an economic giant by the 1980s and later on one of the most advanced countries in the world in the 21st century. The process was characterized by rapid industrialization, phenomenal growth rates and incremental social transformation. The paradigm of Korean path was under scrutiny from politicians and academicians and many studies were devoted to this issue. The paper is briefly highlighting major schools of thoughts analyzing Korea´s model from different angles – developmental concept, new institutionalism, cultural school of values, historical trajectory theory and of international relations concept. The study does not have an ambition to go deeply into historical perspectives and developmental cycles of Korean economic success that are very well covered in a number of economic expertizes. Instead, the paper focuses on some selected aspects that, though sometimes forgotten to get a due attention, but substantially subscribed on the Korea´s industrialization successful story. The study includes considerations of the applicability of Korean model on other countries and brings also a brief insight into the modernization period that followed the path of democratization of the country after 1987.