한국 지방자치제의 지역개발 회고와 전망

Retrospect and Prospects on Regional Development Policies in Korean Local Autonomy Systems

This paper aims at reviewing the trend of regional development policies for 20 years since the local government system began newly in 1995. Four national governments passed through during the period, Kim YeongSam, Kim DaeJoong, Roh MooHyun, Lee MyungBak, and now we are under Park KeunHye’s Administrations. Past two decades experienced two times of global financial crises (1998 and 2007), and global paradigm shift from industrial values to creational and individual values backed up by the ICT development. Local government system spurred the paradigm shift on to regional development policies. Imbalanced national development theorem which dominated the rapid economic growth period by early 90s has been replaced to equal opportunities or individual endogenous development theory along with the local government system grows. Lots of success stories of small villages and towns have shown. But there remain still a lot of constraints to regional development by the local governments. The difficulties come from the allocation rule of national resources. Beginning the local government system, the Government abolished National Economic Development Plan which allocated the national resources regionally based on national growth efficiencies or national minimum criteria. The rule changed to a regional competition now. In order to win the scarce resources, political and human powers the local communities have became the crucial elements. The bigger the powers, the more the resources, and the vice versa.