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.
Preliminary study on Confucian meritocracy and personnel appointment during the Chosǒn Dynasty 조선의 인사임용제도와 유교적 실적주의에 관한 시론적 고찰
차세영 Cha Seyeong
DOI:10.18333/KPAR.55.2.1 Vol.55(No.2) 1-28, 2021
Abstract
Meritocracy is recognized as an important condition to distinguish between patrimonial bureaucracy and modern bureaucracy. The Kwageo, the open, competitive civil service examination of the Chosǒn dynasty, has attracted attention from scholars over the years because it measured the ability of potential officials in the recruitment process, which is the core of meritocracy, even in premodern society. The institution’s recruitment process and relevant (personnel management) laws are also reminiscent of what can be found in modern bureaucracy. Despite these similarities, however, Korean scholars in public administration have not attempted to discover those meritocratic elements present in our past administrative institutions; rather, they have followed personnel management practices and institutions implemented among developed countries that possess drastically different historical backgrounds. This article investigates whether meritocracy as we know it today actually existed and worked in the premodern Korean bureaucracy and offers an alternative, crucial concept called the “Confucian meritocracy.”
Key Words
personnel administration, civilian service examination, meritocracy, Confucian meritocracy, 조선 인사행정, 과거제, 科擧制, 실적주의, 유교적 실적주의
Resident autonomy is a basic concept which has crossed over and had a great influence on practice and theory in the field of local autonomy. Prompted by our concern with the conflation and confusion over its meanings in both the practical and academic worlds, we aim with this study to elucidate its different routinized uses and normative concerns embedded in the two contexts. For this purpose, first, some cases of conflated use of the term in Japan and Korea are introduced. Second, the “use theory of meaning” is reviewed to illuminate the importance of understanding the daily use of language. Third, the experience-near meaning of the term used in the practical world is analyzed from a “family resemblance” perspective, and normative concerns and issues are discussed. Fourth, the ideal and normative nature of the scholarly conception of resident autonomy is explored, and its goodness with “good” academic concept formation criteria is assessed. In conclusion, some suggestions for the use of the concept to understand local autonomy and guide its institutionalization are provided.
Key Words
resident autonomy, concept analysis, use theory of meaning, 주민자치, 개념분석, 용도의미론
In the Covid-19 pandemic, the “care crisis” is often referred to as a representative coronavirus crisis. What is the nature of the care crisis? What causes the care crisis? Is the care crisis a phenomenon created by Covid-19 or did it exist before? What role should the state play to overcome the care crisis? What prospects should the state have in order to overcome it? This study aims to answer these questions. This study argues that the care crisis is an injustice entangled in the existing social structure that excludes the value of care, rather than a phenomenon that first came into being because of Covid-19. The role of the state in overcoming the coronavirus phase, therefore, should be to identify and rectify the care injustice, rather than primarily focusing on regression to the past or recovery to daily life. To this end, this paper argues that the state must be able to present a inclusive care prospect that goes beyond the limitations of the existing system that excludes the value of care.
Key Words
COVID-19, care injustice, care inclusive state, 코로나19, 돌봄부정의, 돌봄포용국가
Necessity of leveraging retired public officials’ expertise and preference for the post-employment restrictive period 퇴직공무원의 전문성 활용 필요성과 취업제한 기간에 대한 선호
This study analyzes the effect of a perceived necessity of leveraging retired civil servants' expertise on a preference for a post-employment restrictive period. In addition, whether a perceived corruption-prevention effect of the restrictive period moderates the relationship is analyzed. A multi-logit model was employed for the analysis. The results reveal that, vis-a-vis the “entrenchment of the status quo,” which is the reference category of this study, the higher the perceived necessity of leveraging retired civil servants, the greater the preference for the “abolition of restrictions on post-employment;” and the higher the perceived corruption-prevention effect of the restrictive period, the greater the preference for the “extended post-employment restriction period to more than three years.” In addition, the perceived corruption prevention effect of the restrictive period attenuates negative effects of the perceived necessity on the “abolition of restrictions on post-employment.” The findings of this study suggest, given that there is an ongoing debate on leveraging retired civil servants' expertise versus preventing conflicts of interest, the extent to which civil servants are exposed to corruption should be considered when making changes to the current post-employment restriction system.
Key Words
post-employment restriction system, preference for the restrictive period, expertise, conflict of interest, 퇴직공무원 취업제한, 기간 선호, 전문성, 이해충돌
The impacts of good governance and institutions on the productivity of general government expenditure on economic affairs: With application to OECD member countries 정부경제지출의 생산성에 좋은 거버넌스와 제도가 미치는 영향: OECD 회원국을 중심으로
This study measured the productivity of general government expenditure on economic affairs in 27 OECD member countries, and analyzed the impacts of good governance and fiscal and political institutions on productivity. From 2000 to 2014 productivity decreased by an average of 1.8%. Efficiency and technical change, components of productivity, also declined by an average of 0.5% and 1.3%, respectively. This implies that the productivity of government expenditure on economic affairs has been reduced by technical regress as well as a decline in efficiency. An examination of productivity differences by expenditure size shows that the productivity of small and medium-sized countries is significantly higher than that of large ones. The impacts of good governance on the productivity of government spending on economic affairs demonstrate that government effectiveness, voice and accountability, and political stability and absence of violence sequentially have a positive influence, while regulatory quality, rule of law, and control of corruption exert no significant effect. The mean of good governance and the quality of government positively influence the productivity of government expenditure on economic affairs. The impacts of fiscal institutions reveal that independent fiscal institutions and expenditure decentralization wield a positively increasing effect on the productivity of government spending on economic affairs, whereas fiscal rules and tax-revenue decentralization do not exercise a significant effect. As for political institutions, a majoritarian electoral system has a positive influence on productivity, whereas the presidential government form and single-party government system do not have a significant effect on it.
Key Words
government expenditure on economic affairs, metafrontier Malmquist-Luenberger productivity, good governance, fiscal institutions, political institutions, 정부경제지출, 메타변경 맘퀴스트-루엔버거 생산성, 좋은 거버넌스, 재정제도, 정치제도
Environmental dynamism and span of control of street-level bureaucracy: An organizational analysis of fire stations of Korea 환경의 역동성과 일선행정기관의 통솔범위: 소방서 조직의 분석
This study was conducted with the street-level bureaucracies of Korea to analyze the effects of the dynamism of task environment on the goal attainment levels and the buffering effects of span of control on the dynamism-goal attainment relationship, and to search for the appropriate direction of structural design to respond to the unpredictable environment. The analysis of the 6-year panel data established by investigating the organizational characteristics of fire stations throughout Korea showed that the level of fire damage is higher in the jurisdictions of the fire stations whose task demand is unpredictably changed. In addition, the analysis of the moderating effects showed that the negative effects of dynamism can be minimized more efficiently in the fire stations where the supervisor's span of control is wider and that of the chief is narrower. The results suggest that the goal attainment of the street-level agencies may rely on the establishment of managerial responsibility by a structural arrangement suitable for the environment, and that the search for and design of the organizational structure harmonized with the work characteristics of the individual layers are more important in the agencies having a higher level of environmental dynamism.
Key Words
environmental dynamism, span of control, street-level bureaucracy, 환경의 역동성, 통솔범위, 일선행정기관
Investigating subjective perceptions of the ambiguity and complexity of public officials’ accountability: Focusing on the Military Manpower Administration’s Social Service Corps Training Center 공직자의 책임 모호성과 복잡성에 관한 주관적 인식 탐구: 병무청 사회복무 연수센터 공직자를 중심으로
Expectations for the role of civil servants in modern administration are rising, and the meaning of accountability is becoming more complex and ambiguous. Recently, there have arisen new types of government employees. No longer are there only general civil servants, but there are also an increasing number of government workers employed under a contract-based relationship called Gongmujik, which has various forms of labor relations. More research is needed to explore the contract-based workers’ perception of accountability. This study explores the recognition of the accountability of local education and training centers. As a result of applying and analyzing the Q-methodology, five distinguished types of recognition were found; namely, Mokmin-officer type, Principleist type, Rule of law type, Dependent type, and Utilitarianism type. This is distinguished according to whether the source of the norm is official or informal, and whether the criterion for responsibilities is outcome- or motivation-based. It is also pointed out that instability of status may pose a threat to the achievement of accountability in the case of public service.
Convergence or divergence as a result of policy diffusion: Focus on the municipal participatory budget system 정책확산 결과로서의 수렴 또는 분화: 기초자치단체 주민참여예산제를 대상으로
Is the result of policy diffusion convergence or divergence? To answer this research question, we examined policy diffusion and policy convergence of the municipal participatory budget system (MPBS). Policy diffusion was analyzed using discrete-time event history analysis (EHA), and policy convergence was examined using the method of beta and sigma convergence for the institutionalization score of resident participation (ISRP). The results of EHA indicate that horizontal diffusion and top-down diffusion by central government coercion and recommendations occurred. The results of policy convergence analysis show that the central government's coercive intervention through mandatory in 2011 led to the convergence of beta and sigma of the MPBS. The results of sigma-convergence analysis show that the inequality of the ISRP, measured by the coefficient of variation, Gini coefficient, and Theil index, changed from an increasing trend before to a decreasing trend after the coercive intervention. Beta-convergence analysis results also show that beta convergence occurred in the post-intervention period and did not occur in the pre-intervention period, or the convergence speed was very low compared to the post-intervention period.
Key Words
policy diffusion, policy convergence, sigma- and beta-convergence, participatory budget system, 정책확산, 정책수렴, sigma 및 beta 수렴, 주민참여예산제
The Compounding Effects of Characteristics of Environmental Policy on Innovation: Focusing on Environmental Policy Stringency (EPS) and Market-Based Instruments 환경정책의 특성과 혁신에 관한 연구: 환경정책의 강도(stringency)와 시장유인적 정책수단을 중심으로
Using a panel dataset of patents on environmental technologies between 1990 and 2010 from 19 OECD countries, this study examines the relationship between environmental policy and innovation. We pay particular attention the effects of two contrasting policy approaches, environmental policy stringency (EPS) and market-based instruments, while accounting for the possibility of policy lags. We find that in the context of the relevant policy field, the stringency of environmental policy has much stronger effects on innovation, though it also contributes to innovation. Such trend is even more pronounced when we acknowledge the presence of policy lags. On the other hand, environmental taxes are found to contribute to innovation while its effect reverted after a certain level in the absence of policy lags. Lastly, we find emissions trading systems to be a unique policy tool that continuously contributes to innovation regardless of the presence of policy lags. This study sheds light on the compounding relationship between environmental policy characteristics and innovation and discusses its implications for more informed design and operation of environmental policies from the perspective of fostering innovation.
Key Words
Environmental Policy Stringency (EPS), Environmental taxes, Innovation, Compounding effects of environmental policy, 환경정책의 강도, stringency, 환경세, 혁신, 환경정책의 복합적 특성
This study analyzes whether there is a significant difference between the appeals acceptance of police officers and that of other public officers. If the discipline of police officers is attenuated at a higher rate than that of other public officers in the appeals process, it may be because the police discipline is harsher than that of other government agencies. For this purpose, we theoretically reviewed the police discipline and appeals system and conducted binomial logistic regression on the difference in the appeals acceptance between police officers and other public officers. Our results show that police discipline is attenuated more in the appeals process than that of other government agencies. However, most of this difference occurred before 2012, and there was no significant difference since 2012 when the police policy on rationalizing disciplinary decisions was implemented. This study contributes to the development of the research in that it refines a theoretical model of prior research by analyzing factors affecting the appeals acceptance rate of police officers and comparing it with that of other organizations. In addition, based on empirical evidence from this study, we argue for several policy improvements, such as education and public relations that can improve the awareness of disciplinary unfairness held by police officers.
