2. Developmental Liberalism: The Developmental State and Social Policy

This chapter appraises the South Korean developmental state with regard to its distinct social policy characteristics and the sociopolitical conditions and effects of such characteristics. Particularly notable, among others, are the following five characteristics that render the social policy orientation of the developmental state developmental liberal: (1) depoliticization/technocratization/developmental obfuscation of social policy, (2) developmental cooptation of social policy constituencies (“growth first, distribution later”), (3) state-business entrepreneurial merge and direct state engagement in labor relations, (4) familial reconstitution of social citizenship, and (5) welfare pluralism and demobilization of civil society. I present contextual and substantive details of each of these characteristics and explain the broad conditions of grassroots life as critically shaped by them. In lieu of a conclusion, I briefly compare developmental liberalism with other major regimes of social policy such as (liberal) liberalism and social democracy (in various versions).