신남방정책 평가에 대한 참여자 인식분석

Exploring the perceptions of policy participants on the evaluation of the New Southern Policy: Q-methodology application and perspective

(Purpose) The New Southern Policy of Korea is a representative foreign policy that has been promoted since 2017. This study on the New Southern Policy leads to an in-depth analysis of how public officials participating in the policy process evaluate the policy. (Design/methodology/approach) In detail, the Q-method analysis was applied with 37 Q statements and 24 respondents from the government such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, and the Financial Services Commission. The Q statements of this study came from previous research and open resources on the New Southern Policy. (Findings) The results show three psychological evaluation frameworks: View 1 of a policy functionalist perspective with necessary useful policy, View 2 of a policy failure perspective with negative policy effects, and View 3 of a critical policy functionalist perspective with necessary but negative evaluation. (Research implications or Originality) In conclusion, this study suggests that the essence of the New Southern Policy is going to be kept in the upcoming Korean governments seeing that respondents recognize the effect and necessity of the policy. To upgrade the NSP in the future, it is useful to refer to View 3 and the common statements of this study: (1) to reflect the target countries’ perspectives, (2) to reorganize the implementation structure of the NSP, (3) to rebuild the policy from a comprehensive perspective in terms of foreign policy. Follow-up studies are expected in that (1) P sample can be varied, (2) actual policy recommendations should be presented, and (3) subjectivity of respondents can be taken into in research method. Follow-up studies will contribute to academic analysis of foreign and security policy in Korea.