National Donors’ Legalization for International Development Cooperation: The Emerging Case of South Korea

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This article scrutinizes the phenomenon of legalization in donor countries. Given that some donor countries prefer to legalize their aid commitments and practices while others do not, the key questions are to what extent legal instruments are preferred and what implications arise. Regarding these puzzles, South Korea, a former aid recipient and a recent member of the OECD-DAC, is highlighted, particularly its Act on International Development Cooperation and the subordinate statutes. When examining the effect of the legal framework on state’s aid policymaking through the analytical concepts of obligation, precision, and delegation, the country constitutes a case of hybrid-type legalization: upon introduction of the ODA Act, South Korea departs from its traditional-discretionary model of policymaking; however, distinct from other Western-procedural types, the laws still allow great discretion of the state executive over ODA affairs. Although the enactment hardly helps to correct the dualistic aid structure and the fragmentation problem, its gradual modifications have advanced national donorship in terms of policy coordination, strategy-building, and evaluation.