Reinventing the Korean Welfare System:Still a Case for “Politics against Market”?

This article argues in favor of the introduction of “stake-holder welfare” as the legitimate form that the future Ko-rean welfare system should assume. Democracy functions properly only on the condition that a minimum degree of institutional arrangements for compromise and alternative-seeking is prepared. In a capitalist society, this amounts to nothing less than the construction of institutions through which the power resources of labor can be formed and manifested such that labor can negotiate on parity with capital. The resulting “stakeholder welfare” in this case suggests the involvement of a radical rearrangement of the existing Korean welfare in which the substantive democ-racy incorporates not only expanding the more traditional type of state welfare but also democratizing the market it-self, especially labor market institutions and the corporate governance system.