“How do we explain the sustained success story of South Korea's development towards becoming a rich industrialized and democratic country?” This is the leading question addressed in Korean Political and Economic Development and its main aim. The second aim of the book is to put this analytical framework to the test. Designed as the first of the multivolume study “Rising to the Challenges of Democratization and Globalization in Korea, 1987–2007,” the book applies theoretical conceptions of the political economic approach put forward by North, Wallis, and Weingast to the case of South Korea.17 The authors, Jongryn Mo and Barry R. Weingast, set out to overcome the perspective of partial explanations by such theories as modernization theory; development theory; democratization theory; and theories of meritocratic bureaucracy, colonial experience, economic policy making, et cetera, and provide an integrated account of South Korea's political and economic development from the establishment of...

You do not currently have access to this content.