ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses an underlying mechanism of Korea’s rapid economic growth and political miracles in the 1960s–1980s. It examines competitiveness and collectivism as new concepts that identify the main sources of these major accomplishments, and these two concepts are demonstrated through the state’s crucial role in managing through post-war adversities. There are a few descriptive pieces of literature that demonstrate past accomplishments of the Korean economy, but there is no convincing explanation of factors other than leadership as well as the Korean bureaucracy’s role in the mobilization of resources. Foreign financial aid has been the greatest part of universally accepted theories of economic development in developing countries. The competitiveness of an organization’s member may lead to numerous competitions within an organization, and these competitions can further result in competitions among different organizations. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
