o Time : December 01, Friday 12:00 ~ 2:00 p.m.

o Venue : 9705(The 7th floor seminar room)


1. The Perspective of Small Business in South Korea


Abstract


Korean small businesses have come a long way as sources of industrial power more important than heretofore credited. The nation’s undemocratic dirigisme had largely slighted small businesses to the country’s disadvantage. Although the government’s policy bias against them started to change in the early 1980s, its support of them remained less than fully-fledged. Despite tough socio-economic conditions, however, both the first and second generation small entrepreneurs have strived to prove their self-worth as viable business enterprises and constantly ？ and increasingly over time ？ contributed to the incremental improvement of the economy. By shedding light on the little-known motivations, perceptions, and performances of the small business people, this article offers a more balanced and nuanced account of the past and present state of small businesses in the country, which provides a tentative basis for considering alternative vision for future development.




2. Toward People-centered Development: A Reflection on the Korean Experience


Abstract


By reflecting upon Korea’s state-led development, its socio-economic consequences, and its current reform efforts and trends, this article calls for reconstructing the state and redefining the identity of its political economy towards people-centered development. Crafting a democratic and empowering dirigisme and institutionalizing democratic values such as public trust and rule of law constitute the nation’s pressing task in its quest for a good society. However, dirigiste choice of growth over equity at an early stage of development process may not be easily reversible at a later stage. Dirigiste development and undemocratic governance create entrenched, self-sustaining interests and structures that no amount of reform politics as usual can touch.