The Korean Public Administration Review (KPAR), which has published quarterly volumes since its establishment in 1967, is the official journal of the Korean Association for Public Administration(KAPA). As a scholarly journal, KPAR not only hold the highest authority in the field of public administration in South Korea, but also in social science. Since the National Research Foundation of Korea began evaluating journals, KPAR has been listed in the Korea Citation Index (KCI) journal index.
Can AI Government Be Compatible with Democracy? A Structural and Normative Analysis AI정부와 민주주의는 양립할 수 있는가? 구조적·규범적 분석
권영현 ( Kwon Younghyun ) , 정주원 ( Jeong Joowon )
DOI:10.18333/KPAR.60.2.3 Vol.60(No.2) 3-30, 2026
Abstract
This study examines the conditions under which AI government can coexist with democracy from normative and structural perspectives. While AI government has the potential to enhance administrative efficiency and predictive capacity, it also poses risks to individual freedom, social equality, and democratic legitimacy through large-scale data collection, probability-based predictive administration, and administrative automation. Accordingly, this study defines the core values of democracy as freedom, equality, and democratic legitimacy, and integrates these values to the major operational stages of AI government to construct an analytic framework. The analysis shows that the risks associated with AI government arise not primarily from individual policy decisions, but from structural processes such as data selection, algorithm design, and system operation. In particular, this study conceptualizes this form of power as “algorithmic non-decision-making.” It concludes that the compatibility of AI government with democracy does not depend on the adoption of AI technologies per se, but on whether democratic control and accountability are institutionally embedded at each stage of AI government.
Key Words
AI정부, 민주주의, 알고리즘적 무의사결정, AI government, democracy, algorithmic non-decision-making
Researcher-AI Interaction and the Reconfiguration of Research Ethics in Public Administration: An Exploratory Inquiry into the Legitimacy and Ethics of Generative AI Use 연구자-AI 상호작용과 행정학 연구윤리의 재구성: 생성형 AI 활용의 정당성과 윤리성에 대한 탐색적 논의
The use of generative AI has rapidly become widespread in academic activities, including the field of public administration. However, clear standards regarding the appropriate scope and mode of generative AI usage have yet to be established. As a result, current discussions surrounding AI use in public administration research often fall into a simplistic dichotomy of “complete acceptance” versus “total prohibition.” Given the increasing normalization of generative AI, insisting solely on a total ban no longer reflects practical realities, while allowing unrestricted use without explicit guidelines risks creating significant research-ethics concerns in the future. This article addresses these challenges by examining the legitimacy and ethical implications of using generative AI in public administration research. Based on the author’s documented interactions with a generative AI system (ChatGPT), the paper analyzes how generative AI can be incorporated into academic work while maintaining scholarly integrity. Through this analysis, the paper proposes field-specific guidelines for responsible AI use in public administration and offers recommendations for institutionalizing such standards at the level of academic associations and scholarly journals. The goal is to move beyond polarized debates and to establish a balanced and realistic framework for the ethical integration of generative AI into the research practices of the discipline.
Key Words
생성형AI, 연구윤리, ChatGPT, generative AI, research ethics
A Weberian Reinterpretation of the Joseon Bureaucracy: Tracing the Roots of the Korean Bureaucratic System 막스 베버 (Max Weber)의 이론에 비추어 본 조선 관료제의 보편성에 대한 재해석: 한국 관료제의 기원을 찾아서
This study critically re-examines Max Weber’s view of Confucian “patrimonial bureaucracies” by reinterpreting the Joseon bureaucracy as an ideal-type model of “rational-legal authority.” Based on historical records like Gyeongguk Daejeon and the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, the research highlights four core modern mechanisms: (1) rule of law and rigorous documentary administration; (2) a clear hierarchical structure; (3) functional specialization; and (4) a merit-based career bureaucracy established through the Gwagyeo (civil service exam) system. By demonstrating inherent modern rationality within an East Asian context prior to Western industrialization, this study identifies the indigenous origins of Korean administration and strengthens the theoretical identity of Korean public administration studies.
Key Words
막스 베버, 가산관료제, 관료제, 조선, 행정사, max weber, patrimonial bureaucracy, bureaucracy, joseon
Global Diffusion Patterns and Institutionalization of Deliberative Democracy: A Descriptive Analysis of 733 OECD Cases 숙의민주주의의 글로벌 확산 패턴과 제도화 양상: OECD 733개 사례의 기술적 분석
This study provides a descriptive analysis of 733 cases of deliberative democracy drawn from the OECD’s 2023 Representative Deliberative Processes database. It examines how internationally documented cases are distributed across time, levels of government, deliberative models, issue areas, and institutionalization status through frequency analysis, cross-tabulation, and trend visualization.
The findings show that the number of recorded cases increased markedly after the late 2010s and that deliberative processes were concentrated more heavily at the local and regional levels of government. A limited number of models―especially Citizens’ Assemblies, Citizens’ Juries, and Deliberative Polls―appeared more repeatedly than others. Issue areas were also unevenly distributed, with environment and climate, energy, urban and regional development, and health and welfare emerging as prominent domains. Institutionalized cases accounted for only a small share of the overall distribution and were relatively concentrated in particular models and governmental levels.
These results suggest that, within the OECD database, deliberative democracy shows patterned rather than uniform expansion. Although this study does not explain the causal conditions of diffusion or institutionalization, it provides a comparative map of globally documented cases and offers a baseline for future explanatory research.
Temporal-Structural Distortion of Accountability and Foreseen Failure: Administrative Responsibility in Long-Term National Projects Through the Case of Muan Airport 시간구조적 책임왜곡과 예견된 실패: 무안공항 사례를 통해 본 장기 국책사업의 행정책임구조
The Muan Airport disaster can be interpreted not as a contingent accident but as the outcome of institutional mechanisms through which administrative accountability was deferred and dispersed via temporal structures over a 35‑year national project. While existing accountability research has focused on “who is accountable to whom,” this study highlights the temporal-structural dimension of “when accountability is designed to operate” as critical to both disaster occurrence and the attribution of responsibility. To this end, an analytical framework of procedural, institutional, and political time is derived from the Challenger disaster and applied to the Muan Airport case. The analysis shows that reporting-review-approval routines, annual budget and evaluation cycles, and short‑term performance pressures aimed at securing political legitimacy each dissolved the urgency of warnings, diminished long‑term risks, and deferred accountability into the future, demonstrating that “foreseen failure” was structurally produced over 35 years.
Does Excessive OCB Lead to Turnover? The Mediating Role of Supervisor Satisfaction Among Employees of Local Legislative Secretariats 지방의회 사무처 직원들의 과도한 조직시민행동이 이직의도에 미치는 영향: 상사만족도의 매개효과를 중심으로
This study empirically analyzes the impact of excessive organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) on turnover intention among employees of the Gyeonggi-do Assembly Secretariat, specifically focusing on the mediating effect of satisfaction with superiors (senior officials and provincial councilors). Based on the “too-much-of-a-good-thing (TMGT)” effect theory, the results indicate that excessive OCB perceived by members has a significant positive (+) effect on turnover intention. Notably, satisfaction with secretariat superiors was found to have a partial mediating effect between excessive OCB and turnover intention. These findings suggest that when extra-role assistance activities exceed a certain level―thereby encroaching on personal life or diluting core job performance―they accelerate organizational departure. This highlights the necessity of superior support and the establishment of clear job boundaries to mitigate these effects. This study identifies the dysfunctional aspects of OCB within the unique context of a local assembly and provides strategic human resource management implications for its employees.
Key Words
과도한 조직시민행동, 과유불급(TMGT) 효과, 이직의도, 상사만족도, 경기도의회, excessive OCB, too-much-of-a-good-thing effect, turnover intention, satisfaction with superiors, gyeonggi-do assembly
Does Fiscal Transparency Mitigate Political Budget Cycles? With a Focus on Interaction Effect of Information Disclosure Request Disclosure Rate 재정투명성이 정치적 예산순환을 완화하는가?: 정보공개청구 공개율의 조절효과를 중심으로
This study empirically analyzes whether increased fiscal transparency among Korean metropolitan governments mitigates the occurrence of political budget cycles prior to elections. Increased fiscal transparency, by facilitating the disclosure of information, is expected to empower voters to more effectively evaluate the strategic actions of politicians. This, in turn, is anticipated to constrain politicians from pursuing short-term, populist policies, thereby mitigating opportunistic behavior. Utilizing a system GMM estimation approach, our analysis investigated whether fiscal transparency, as measured by information disclosure request disclosure rate, moderates the impact of elections on total government expenditures. The findings indicate that total expenditures increase in both election years and the preceding years. Furthermore, higher levels of fiscal transparency were found to mitigate the political budget cycles that typically occur prior to elections. This finding suggests that fiscal transparency can serve as an important policy instrument for effectively curbing political budget cycles.
Key Words
정치적 예산순환, 재정투명성, 정보공개청구 공개율, political budget cycle, fiscal transparency, information disclosure request disclosure rate
This study examines how fiscal slack affects the planning capacity of local public finance through the lens of the paradox of affluence. Using a two-way fixed effects panel model on 2019-2023 data from 19 large Korean cities and in-depth practitioner interviews, the analysis reveals that fiscal slack primarily impacts the execution stage rather than forecasting or planning. Specifically, prior-year fiscal slack significantly increases carry-over and unused budgets, but has no significant effect on tax revenue forecasting errors or deviations from medium-term local financial plans (MTLFPs). Qualitative evidence indicates that forecasting errors stem from defensive conservatism, while plan-budget discrepancies result from the weak binding power of MTLFPs. Furthermore, resource idling during execution is amplified when large-scale investment projects face administrative delays. By demonstrating how fiscal slack promotes decoupling between planning and execution under weak institutional constraints, this study highlights the need to institutionalize slack management, strengthen MTLFP binding power, and better align revenue accumulation with expenditure execution.
Key Words
풍요의 역설, 순세계잉여금, 중기지방재정계획, paradox of affluence, fiscal slack, medium-term local financial plan
Korea's local education finance transfer is allocated to provincial education school districts as a fixed share of national internal taxes, and its size has continued to grow regardless of the rapid decline in the school-age population. In response, fiscal authorities argue for institutional reform to address population aging and strengthen allocative efficiency, while others emphasize the need for stable financing to meet emerging demands in future education, which causes an ongoing policy conflict. Yet current debates remain largely focused on revenue-linked restructuring rather than on evidence about actual expenditure needs for delivering education services. This study analyzes the adequate level of education spending required to provide education services and assesses the adequacy of the transfer system by comparing the estimated adequate spending with the officially calculated Standard Fiscal Needs. Using panel data on 6,154 elementary, middle, and high schools, we estimate a school-level cost function and aggregate the results to the education-office level for comparison with Standard Fiscal Needs. The results showa mixed pattern of over-allocation and under-allocation across education offices. By quantifying adequate education spending through an outcome-based cost-function approach, this study provides an empirical basis for shifting the transfer debate from revenue linkage toward an adequacy-centered framework. The approach also helps identify potential under- and over-allocation across jurisdictions, thereby offering evidence-based policy for designing both aggregate adjustments and distribution formulas in future reforms of the transfer system.
An Exploration of the Subjective Perceptions of Local Public Officials Regarding the Regional Distribution of Central Government Grants 국고보조금의 지역 배분에 대한 지자체 공무원의 주관적 인식 탐구
This study investigates local government budget officials' perceptions regarding the regional distribution scale of central government grants and its determinants, analyzing perception biases and regional disparities. Survey results indicate that while the Honam and Gangwon/Jeju regions actually receive above-average per capita grants, officials perceived them as below average. Conversely, the Daegyeong and Dongnam regions perceived their allocations as high despite actual levels being relatively low or average. Overall, the president, heads of local governments, National Assembly members, the local head's political party, and relationship between upper-level and lower-level local governments were perceived as highly influential, whereas local councils, civil society organizations, and local media were not. Regionally, non-capital areas, provinces, and the Yeongnam/Honam regions perceived significantly higher influence from political actors and intergovernmental cooperation compared to their counterparts. Unlike previous studies that examine determinants without practitioner input, this research provides empirical significance by revealing spatial variations in the actual perceptions of local government budget officials. Furthermore, it theoretically elucidates these perception gaps by utilizing the concepts of policy subsystem and issue network.
Key Words
국고보조금의 지역 배분, Issue Network, 지역 역량, regional distribution of central government grants, issue network, regional capacity
