Capitalism and Corporatism in Korea: Comparative Perspectives
Leavey Conference Center
Georgetown University
May 15 - 18, 1994
Prospectus
Rapid changes in Korea's political economy over the past two decades have bewildered both scholars and policy-makers. We have only begun to sort out the possibilities of liberalization in polity or economy in South Korea. Neither academia nor institute alone have yet been able to muster the variety of experience and insight necessary to adjust, understand, and interpret the Korean experience of capitalist society. Nowhere is this more evident than in our models of continuity and change in Korean capitalism. As scholars of neighboring societies such as China and Japan have made progress in distinguishing pluralist and corporatist forms of organization in Asian capitalism, our scholarship on Korea remains largely concerned with tensions on a politically divided peninsula, or with authoritarian versus liberal regimes to the south.
Scholars in Asian societies have begun the task of gauging the relevance of Western models of corporatism, patrimonialism, and pluralism. We find similar scholarly efforts in process among isolated, individual scholars of Korean society, but without a common forum which will permit both exposure to scholarly critique, comparative perspectives, and generation of new theses. With these needs in mind, I am planning a conference on Korean society for the spring of 1994 at Georgetown University in Washington DC. Twelve papers will be composed for the conference in response to the topic of corporatism and capitalism in South Korea. The corporatist thesis could provide either a focus for integrating arguments, or a target to reject, but in any case give a theoretical and comparative direction to the discussions.
The conference is aimed at policy-relevant topics of theoretical concern. We hope to bring results of empirical research to an informed forum of scholars and experts from the policy community, drawing out the relevance of our research findings, but also alerting us to new areas demanding closer empirical scrutiny. The discussions will foster comparative linkages across Asian societies, and offer a stronger theoretical grounding for analyses of "models" of political and economic change within these societies. But at the same time we plan to bring the results of our discussions directly to the policy community in a special forum on the last day of the conference. Here the wider policy community in Washington interested in Asia will have their opportunity to challenge our emerging models, and learn of our discussions.
Participants
Papers will be presented by scholars of Korea who have already offered important theses about Korean society. The conference will provide an opportunity to extend those insights into a more consistent set of theses about continuity and change in Korean society. But not all papers will be directly concerned with Korean society. Three scholars from Japan and Southeast Asia will introduce us to recent developments in corporatist strategies evident in business/state ties, or management/labor relations in their own societies. This comparative effort will ground our discussions in an Asian context, and help us avoid the pitfall of dichotomizing Korean case study and Western theory. Three scholars of corporatist theory and/or comparative Asian society from the US will also be invited to contribute papers. The latter will provide a link to the growing network of scholars and policy-makers looking to pluralist and corporatist strategies of political liberalization and industrial restructuring. My colleagues here at Georgetown University in Asian Studies, International Political Economy, Sociology and Political Theory will be invited to serve as discussants. Specialists from the World Bank, IMF, and the US State Department will also be invited to serve as discussants.
Goals
Emerging patterns of authority and exchange among state, capital, and labor in South Korea serve as our focus. Our purpose is to clarify research assumptions about Korean society, generate new research directions, and offer new paradigms for the policy debate. Our more immediate goal is a set of papers for publication that might offer new research directions, and begin the task of bridging academia and institute in the policy process.
But the profile of conference participants suggests a further goal of fostering debate and research collaboration both among scholars and experts in the policy community, and between academics and policymakers. We need fora to bring together scholars of Korean society in Korea and the US for focused discussions on theoretical topics with clear relevance to emerging policy debates. We need to improve the level of theoretical discourse through interaction with political and social theorists who can lend their insights to the Korean experience, while maintaining discussions with those in the policy community. The effort will also help establish networks of scholarship across national lines within Asia to benefit from comparative insight.
2006- From Commerce to Community – Korea’s Role in East Asia
2005- From Commerce to Community – Korea’s Role in East Asia
2001- Contending Forms of Korean Modernity, Comparative Perspectives
1999- Adjustment and Exchange, Comparative Perspectives
1997- Trust & Individual Transformation in Korea, Comparative Perspectives
1995- Korean State and the Rise of Civil Society: Comparative Perspectives
1994- Capitalism and Corporatism in Korea: Comparative Perspectives
Last Updated Spring 2010
