FROM RELATIVE AUTONOMY TO CONSENSUAL DEVELOPMENT - THE CASE OF SOUTH-KOREA

The success of the autonomous state in promoting rapid industrializati on in South Korea from 1961 to 1987 is usually seen ill terms of the s tate's capacity to coerce reluctant societal actors into productive ec onomic pursuit. The economic sluggishness associated with some autonom ous states suggests that any explanation of Korean economic success al so needs to mention the factors that constrained bureaucratic abuse an d the methods by which societal motivation behind the industrializatio n effort was maintained over three: decades. Democratization has accen tuated the capacity of societal actors to challenge the stare's econom ic leadership but has not resulted in the emergence of an economic Fre e for all. While similarities exist. Korea will experience greater dif ficulty in realizing the synthesis between developmental state and lib eral-democratic polity (consensual development) that characterized pos twar Japanese development.