Park Chung-hee Regime Characteristics, Performance And Limitations Of Analysis

The dissertation comprehensively studies and analyzes the Park Chung- Hee Authoritarian Regime (PAR), which had ruled South Korea for eighteen years (1961-1979). It focuses on the essential relation between the political system and economic development. The dissertation consists of five parts. The introduction explains the values and the current academic achievements on this subject, the methodology and the main problems that the dissertation will study, and then the concept of authoritarianism. The first section discusses the two fundamental characters of the PAR:?the Powerful Government?and 搕he Efficient Government? 揟he Powerful Government?shows mainly in three aspects. One is the highly centralized political power, the other is the autonomy of the government and the alliance that is combined by the government and the enterprises, another is the technological bureaucrats with high diathesis. 揟he Efficient Government?shows mainly in two aspects. One aspect is that the government is conquered by the military culture, the other is that the function of the government is detached and specialized. The second section discusses the three great achievements of the PAR. The first great achievement is that it washed away the wrong policy of managing state affairs of the First Republic, which only emphasized on 搖nifying?paying no attention to nation construction. It eliminated the turbulence and disorder of the Second Republic, and it established the strategic policy for the Third Republic. The second great achievement is that it cleansed the political foul disease such as power struggling and official corruption by the tool of state machine. It created an appropriate environment for developing economy by putting the society in order, standardizing laws and rules, and carrying out social stabilization and political stabilization. The third great achievement is that it fully made use of the function of the government in fostering the market elements, and it created a set of 搒timulating system?in developing economy, and it helped , encouraged the main body of the market? enterprises to grow up quickly, and that it started up, pushed up the developing mode which is called 揋overnment Dominating Market Economy? and that it achieved the quick development of the Korea economy. The third section discusses the limitations of PAR. In this section the dissertation analyzes the five defects which the authoritarian system can not overcome itself. The authoritarianism results in corruption easily; The government dominating mode results in corruption easily; The authoritarianism obstructs the development of democratic politics; The authoritarianism obstructs the perfection the market structure; The authoritarianism obstructs the development of the main body of the market. The conclusion is that the PAR adapted the conditions of the society and history of South Korea properly, and that it promoted the economic development of South Korea extremely, and that it prepared a substantial foundation for the future democratic development of South Korea. As a transitional political form the authoritarian system has its structural limitations. As the development of the society and economy, the gradually formation of the citizen society, the daily strengthening of the consciousness of the citizen to participate in politics, it is necessary that the authoritarianism will be replaced by democratic politics.