발전국가론의 퇴조와 지역균형발전전략에 관한 연구

A Study on the Fall of Developmental State Theory and Balanced Regional Development Strategies

&nbsp;&nbsp;This paper is aimed at examining both the driving force of Korea&quot;s remarkable economic growth in the past, resulting in the persistence of regional disparities, and territorial development strategies based on new paradigm for more balanced regional development in the 21st century. Another attempt is also made to propose a few recommendations for achieving regional development more effectively.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;For the past four decades, Korea has experienced notable economic growth and subsequently enormous spatial changes. The rapid economic growth has been the result of export expansion and the government&quot;s strong commitment to aggregate growth in the interest of efficiency. In this respect, highly centralized government has played an important role as a &quot;State Entrepreneur&quot;. The government has procured necessary financial resources for industrialization mainly from abroad. and allocated them to some selected enterprises in designated industrial estates based on the priority of industrial sector, and also established relevant R&amp;D institutions. Further tendencies toward polarization may also be exacerbated by the concentration of public investment in a few favored regions or urban centers including the Capital Region(Seoul. Incheon and their surrounding Gyeonggi Province).<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;Balanced regional development in broad terms refers not only to spatial equality of living conditions, but to equality in terms of opportunities for individuals and groups. by enhancing development potentials of every locality. Balanced regional development, however. should not reduce the national competitiveness as a whole in the long run. The Korean government now attempts to promote further national and/or regional development by transforming the paradigm of development from the centralized and concentrated to the decentralized and deconcentrated approaches. <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;Major deconcentrated strategies thus include both the construction of new administrative town accommodating 18 government ministries and agencies in the central part of Korea, and the relocation of 176 public corporations and research institutions in 12 metropolitan cities and provinces. And the decentralized scheme is required to give local governments a wide range of discretion in stimulating regional development. Top-down planning pursued in Korea usually begins with the designation of broad national development goals. An alternative approach may be the self-selection strategy. In addition, the spatial distribution of industrial activities over the nation is also important to bring about balanced regional development. For example, innovative clusters can be promoted on the basis of each locality&quot;s potentials and characteristics in order to playas relief poles or counter-magnets against the Capital Region. Finally, the main emphasis should primarily placed on local government-initiated development through an endogenous capacities. Regional innovation systems(RIS) can be thus applied to promote self-sustaining regional development. All territorial actors in building RIS should be able to combine their competencies and truly cooperate with each other by enhancing local governance.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;As preconditions for an equity policy, political commitment to balanced regional development is of great importance in Korea. Inequitable patterns of development can not be changed without intense political commitment, which has been largely successful in promoting Korea&quot;s export expansion. On the other hand, the Capital Region, still the national epicenter of economic growth, is needed to strengthen its competitiveness by the deregulation of various land uses in accordance with the pace of deconcentrated and decentralized entities.