장애인 직업재활정책의 결정 요인에 관한 연구：정책네트워크 관점

A Study on the Determining Factors In the Vocational Rehabilitation Policy Making For Persons with Disabilities：from the Standpoint of Policy Networking

본 연구는 한국의 장애인 직업재활정책의 결정과 변화는 어떤 과정을 통해 어떻게 이루어지며 또한 직업재활정책에 영향을 미치는 결정요인은 무엇인가를 규명함으로써 향후 바람직한 직업재활정책수립에 기여하고자 하였다. 이를 위해 1990년 “장애인 고용촉진 등에 관한 법률”의 제정(도입)과정과 동 법의 전면적인 개정이 이루어진 2000년 “장애인고용촉진 및 직업재활법”의 변화(확대)과정에 있어서의 직업재활정책 결정요인을 정책네트워크이론을 틀로 하여 사례비교방법과 역사적 사건분석을 연구방법으로 분석ㆍ비교하여 보았다. 연구결과를 요약하면 다음과 같다. 첫째, 정책 환경으로서 국제기구의 권고, 협약 등의 대외적 환경과 정치적 환경, 경제적 환경 그리고 제도적 환경 등의 대내적 환경이 정책결정에 영항을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 이상의 정책 환경요인 중 장애계의 정치적인 역량 등을 포함한 정치적 환경이 정책결정에 가장 큰 영향을 미친 것으로 나타났다. 둘째, 정책 환경변화와 그에 대응하는 활동과정에서 정책행위자의 성격이 새롭게 변화하고 동시에 영향력관계도 변화하면서 이들의 이익표출행위인 상호작용통로도 변화하여 새로운 정책네트워크를 형성하고 이는 직업재활정책 결정에 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 셋째, 정책네트워크의 구조적 특성 즉, 정책행위자의 특성이 정부행위자보다는 비정부행위자들의 영향력이 클수록, 정책행위자의 수가 많고 행위자의 유형이 다양할수록 네트워크경계는 개방적인 구조를 가지며 이는 장애계의 정책이익이 많이 반영된 정책 산출에 영향을 미쳤다. 또한 정책행위자간 상호작용의 성격이 협력적이고 상호작용의 강도가 강한 네트워크 특성을 나타낼수록 정책결과에 긍정적인 영향을 미치는 것으로 분석되었다.

This study aims at reviewing the process and aspects through which vocational rehabilitation policies are formed and altered in Korea. It also identifies the determinants that have an impact on policy making, thus contributing to the subsequent establishment of desirable vocational rehabilitation policies. The study performed a comparative analysis of the determinants for vocational rehabilitation policies. It was also a part of the introduction process of the Employment Promotion Act of Persons with Disabilities in 1990 and in the legislation of the Employment Promotion and Vocational Rehabilitation Act of Persons with Disabilities in 2000, which was a full-scale revision and expansion of the previous act, with Policy Network Theory as its framework and with the case study and historical event analysis as its research method. Based on the theoretical examination, the study identified three major determinants as the policy environment: The policy network components and the policy outcome as independent variables which have a significant impact on the vocational rehabilitation policy making procedure, and integrated the findings which had been analyzed by sub-variables as its measuring index at each determinant, which suggests the following: First, the policy environments, including the external environment such as the advisory opinion of the treaties with international agencies, The internal environment which includes political. economic and institutional factors. These factors were found to have an impact on the policy making process. The political environment was found to have the greatest impact on the policy making procedure. Second, along with the changes in the policy making environment. the number, type. and character of the policy makers has also changed. As a result the way in which the policy makers interact with each other is different. As a direct result of these changes in group interactions a new network has formed which provides policy makers with a new direction for making their interests known. This new network has a direct influence on how policies are made in the vocational rehabilitation program. Third. the structural characteristics of the policy network were found to have an impact on making vocational rehabilitation policies. The study found that the key participants of the policy making process; includes groups of persons with disabilities. the government(President. Ministry of Labor. Ministry of Health and Welfare. etc.). Political parties(the ruling party and the opposition party). parliament and the business world were also involved. The bigger impact of non-governmental participants was. compared to that of governmental participants in this characteristic of the policy making participants. and the more numerous the participants were and the more various the participants types were. the more open structure the boundary of the network showed and the more it had its impact on the forming of a policy that reflected increasing policy interest of the groups of persons with disabilities. The findings also suggest that the more cooperative and the stronger the interaction between members of the network of policy makers, the more positive impact it had on the outcome of the policy making process.