Crony Capitalism
Corruption and Development in South Korea and the Philippines

Why has literature on Asian development not addressed the issue of money politics in Korea?

David C. Kang (Author)

9780521808170, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 24 January 2002

222 pages, 11 b/w illus. 56 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm, 0.5 kg

'Although previous literature mostly portrayed the Park regime as the paragon of the developmental state, Kang convincingly reveals that politics under the Park regime was actually money ridden.' Japanese Journal of Political Science

Why has the literature on Asian development not addressed the issue of money politics in Korea? How can we reconcile the view of an efficient developmental state in Korea before 1997 with reports of massive corruption and inefficiency in that same country in 1998 and 1999? Politics is central to the answer. In this book the author makes two arguments. First, both Korea and the Philippines experienced significant corruption throughout the post-independence era. Second, political - not economic - considerations dominated policy making in both countries. Focusing on the exchange of favors for bribes between state and business, the author argues that politics drove policy choices, that bureaucrats were not autonomous from political interference in setting policy, and that business and political elites wrestled with each other over who would reap the rents to be had. Even in Korea, corruption was far greater than the conventional wisdom allows.

List of figures
List of tables
Acknowledgements
1. The puzzle and the theory
2. Comparing Korea and the Philippines
3. Institutions: bureaucrats and rulers
4. Mutual Hostages in Korea
5. Bandwagon politics in the Philippines
6. Democracy in the 1980s and the financial crisis of 1997
7. Conclusion: corruption and development
Index.

Subject Areas: Political economy [KCP], Economics, finance, business & management [K], Political science & theory [JPA], Politics & government [JP], Sociology & anthropology [JH], Regional studies [GTB]