Government Agendas in South Korea: Stability and Change since Democratization

This paper examines the sources of stability and change of government agendas in Korea since democratization (1989-2011). To measure government agendas, I analyze the policy content of executive speeches using policy statements (quasi-sentences) as the unit of analysis following the codebook of the Policy Agendas Project (www.policyagendas.org). The paper argues that two factors - integration of the domestic market into the global economy and diversifying social interests - place external and internal pressures on the government and shape long-term government agendas. Specifically, attention to issues like economic management and welfare has steadily increased, but attention to other policies has declined. Similarly, the focus of attention varies under each administration, which is why leadership turnover results in a significant shift in policy priorities. Overall, the paper shows that the changing economic, social, and political environment, as well as executive leadership turnover are two important factors shaping stability and change of government agendas in Korea.