The contribution of the digital revolution to Korea's democracy, with a focus on political communications, from 1993 to 2018

The research aim is to figure out the relationship between the development of digital communication and democracy using Korea as a case study (specifically focusing on 1993 to 2018, the period when digitalisation and political democratisation took place in earnest). To do this, two specific main research questions are set up, focusing on the historical digital developmental process and the present political communications through digital media in Korean society, respectively. To solve the research questions, preliminary investigation, including web analysis as well as the documentary analysis, is implemented. Most of the background information about the selected interview candidates and organisations is found out by preliminary investigations. Interviews are conducted during a two-month-long fieldwork period in Korea from 27 July 2017 to 30 September 2017, regarding both the democratic transition to Korean politics and society. Interview data are mostly collected from face-to-face interviews with civil servants and experts. The literature review on political communication and democracy in the digital age helps to figure out the theoretical ideas, which raised further questions for examination. This study comprehensively analyses the changes of the media environment and political communications at both the governmental level and societal level in the digital era. In order to understand the overall circumstances of Korea, the specific Korean historical, political, economic, and cultural contexts are examined first, before the development of the Korean digital infrastructure is investigated. On this basis, understanding the digital development process in Korea, how digital communication affects Korean democracy is scrutinised by analysing the viii digital media use in the political realm at the aspect of the civil society as well as the government in the recent democratisation process. Empirical data and findings in this Korean case study support the argument that digital communication has a democratic function, even if it is accompanying non-democratic social issues, and it supports direct and participatory democracies rather than representative democracy

The role of the state and the market in the Korean Water Sector: Strategic decision making approach for good governance

This thesis challenges the neoclassical and the state-oriented views on economic and industrial development, using a strategic decision making theory framework and by focusing on the changing governance of the Korean water sector as an in-depth case. This research finds that a governance structure controlled by a few elites from the market or the state inevitably fails to meet the public interest. Strategic decision making theory (SDT) in this research incorporates Barzelay’s institutional processualism (Barzelay, 2003, Barzelay and Gallego, 2006) and Moe’s concept of purposive incentive (1981), in order to explain ‘changing’ governance and the reasons why some actors voluntarily participate in democratic decision making despite ‘collective action problems’. The Korean water sector, the case of this research, illustrates these ideas by showing that governance changes result from intense interaction between interested and purposive actors, critical events, and context. SDT analysis is complemented by an econometric analysis, which shows that the decentralisation of decision making power does not necessarily come with better performance unless proper governance is introduced. Solutions suggested in this thesis are democratic industrial governance and, as an intermediate means, a democratic regulatory agency, which is beyond merely (economic) regulation to remedy ‘market failure’ and economic bureaucrats pursuing long term career path.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo